Does the Citizen's Education Level and Digital Information Ability Affect their Internet Rights Protection Willingness?

During the urban digital transformation, numerous products and services have undergone large-scale digitization, providing citizens with enhanced convenience and benefits. However, this rapid transformation has also resulted in the infringement of citizens' Internet rights. Safeguarding these rights is not only a requirement for upholding the rule of law but also a fundamental prerequisite for the further development of digital society. This study discusses the influence of citizens' education level on the willingness to protect Internet rights and the parallel mediating effect of digital information acquisition ability and digital information utilization ability. The results show that (1) citizens' education level has both positive and indirect effects on their Internet rights protection willingness, and the higher the ability to acquire and utilize digital information, the more likely they are to defend their rights on the Internet; (2) digital information acquisition ability and digital information utilization ability play a parallel mediating role between citizens' education level and Internet rights protection willingness. This research demonstrates that the government must also attach importance to educating citizens in digital information acquisition and utilization abilities to better enhance their Internet rights protection willingness. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between education, digital information abilities, and the defense of Internet rights in the context of digital transformation.