Everything you need to know about online harassment

Online harassment has special characteristics. To be able to effectively deal with online harassment, you should read and learn as much as you possibly can about the experiences of others who have been involved with online harassment cases.

What is unique about online harassment

Does it matter whether people are viewing a harassing post

Where can you find information about online harassment

What is unique about online harassment

With online harassment, as opposed to a more traditional personal harassment at home, on the street or at work, the perpetrator (the harasser) is often hidden or at least, operates in the shadows. He or she might come out every day, once a month, on a specific day of the year, or hardly ever.

The existence of the online harasser isn’t depending on a physical presence or even on how often they harass their victims. An online harasser can take one step, write one post, publish a lone website or a single tweet and then go back to their own life. The post, website or tweet will then do all the rest of the harassment for them. The harassing publication they made by just being there, is harassing enough. It will stay online forever and it will reappear, as someone will come across it online.

Does it matter whether people are viewing a harassing post

Online harassment is public yet very private. Even if no one is bothered to look at harassing posts online, the posts might still be harassing posts.  As long as the victim knows that there is an harassing publication online about them they will feel harassed. With online harassment, what counts is the knowledge of the victims that they are being harassed, rather than a continual physical action by the harasser.

Where can you find information about online harassment

This website consists of testimonies of victims of online harassment, of case studies and experiences of their lawyers and insider information that was given to us exclusively by the harassers themselves, some of whom we have identified and caught and who agreed to speak with us about their online harassing activities.