New report shows the reach of online harassment, digital abuse, and cyberstalking

datasociety.net/blog/2016/11/21/online-harassment/



NEW YORK
November 21, 2016—A new report from the Data & Society Research Institute and the Center for Innovative Public Health Research offers the most comprehensive picture to date of Americans’ experiences with online harassment and abuse, finding that most U.S. internet users have witnessed online harassment, and almost half have personally experienced it.

The report, “Online Harassment, Digital Abuse, and Cyberstalking in America,” is based on a nationally-representative telephone survey and offers the first-ever national data on the prevalence of many types of online harassment and abuse among American internet users ages 15 and older. In addition to outlining Americans’ experiences with online harassment and abuse, the report also offers new insights into how victims of online harassment perceive and react to their abuse.

The report examines a variety of harassing behaviors ranging from online forms of “traditional” harassment, such as name-calling or physical threats, to hacking, monitoring, and other invasions of privacy. It also includes methods of denying the target access to online platforms, such as through a high volume of unwanted messages (“message bombing”), misuse of platform reporting tools, and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks.