The Internet acts as a double-edged sword， both enhancing people’s lives and distorting their perceptions. Education， however， can mitigate its adverse effects. Based on data from the 2021 China General Social Survey （CGSS）， this study uses the moderating effect and threshold effect models to explore the correlation mechanism among residents’ Internet use， social justice perception and education level. The findings suggest that Internet use has a significant negative impact on the perception of social fairness among urban and rural residents—those who use the Internet perceive society as less fair than those who do not. Meanwhile， the improvement of both individuals’ and their parents’ levels of education positively moderate this negative effect， effectively mitigating the adverse impact of excessive internet use. The moderating role of education varies by region and gender， with a more pronounced effect among rural residents compared to urban residents， and among women compared to men. Moreover， the moderating effect of education displays threshold characteristics： when individuals’ educational attainment surpasses 12 years and their parents’exceeds 6.5 years， the positive moderating impact strengthens. Based on these findings， it is recommended that the government should play a good role of “gatekeeper” by strengthening the regulation of the Internet， and increasing the investment in education and human capital， so as to improve the social justice perception among the population.