The following resource helps victims of online bullying, harassment, or hate speech connect with resources to document, report, and heal from cyber-related harm.
Spotlighted Resources
Online Harassment Field Manual - PEN America
“Whether you’re experiencing or witnessing online abuse, this Field Manual offers concrete strategies for how to defend yourself and others. We wrote this guidance with and for those disproportionately impacted by online abuse: writers, journalists, artists, and activists who identify as women, BIPOC, and/or LGBTQIA+. Whatever your identity or vocation, anyone active online will find useful tools and resources here for navigating online abuse and tightening digital safety.”- PEN America
Digital Security Helpline - Access Now
Access Now offers 24/7 help services available in nine languages “We are a free-of-charge resource for civil society around the world. We offer real-time, direct technical assistance and advice to civil society groups & activists, media organizations, journalists & bloggers, and human rights defenders.”
Bullies Out- How to Report Social Media Abuse
Most Social Media sites have a reporting system in place aimed at flagging inappropriate content. This resource explains how users can report harassing contacts according to each platform, as well as an explanation of what constitutes inappropriate content on each respective site.
Guides & Resources
Digital Safety
Violet Blue: How to Remove Yourself from Internet Searches and People Databases
So You’ve Been Doxed: A Guide to Best Practices from Crash Override
Non-Consensual Intimate Images Removal Guide from End Revenge Porn
Digital Hygiene Course from Trollbusters
Do It Yourself Online Safety Guide from Chayn
How to Store Date: What data storage has to do with tech-related VAW- Take Back the Tech
How to Shut Stalkers Out of Your Tech by Yael Grauer
The Data Detox Kit from Tactical Tech
Keep Your Data Secure With a Personalized Plan by Consumer Reports
How To Protect Your Data And Remove Personal Information From The Internet: Abine's step by step instructions on how to remove your online public records from the leading data sites.
A Feminist’s Guide to Digital Security from Community Red
App Safety Center from the National Network to End Domestic Violence
Securing Online and Offline Freedoms for Women: Expression, Privacy and Digital Inclusion Manual from Tactical Tech
Anita Sarkeesian's Guide to Internetting While Female from Marie Claire
How To Deal With Privacy and Anonymity from Take Back the Tech
Digital Body Boundaries: A 21st Century Concept from Darkness to Light
Online Harassment
HeartMob from Hollaback!
So, you’re getting harassed on the Internet. What do you do now? By Deanna Zandt
Get Help Now By Cyber Civil Rights Initiative
Online Harassment, Digital Abuse, and Cyberstalking in America by Amanda Lenhart, Michele Ybarra, Kathryn Zickuhr and Myesia Price-Feeney. Published by Data and Society
Speak Up & Stay Safe(r): A Guide to Protecting Yourself From Online Harassment: Feminist Frequency, Jaclyn Friedman and Renee Bracey Sherman
Advice for Researchers Facing Online Harassment by Science Media Centre
Resources from Cyberbullying Research Center
Resources for Survivors
SAAM 2021 Survivor Resources from NSVRC
How to Talk to Survivors of Online Violence from Take Back the Tech
Technology Safety & Privacy: A Toolkit for Survivors from National Network to End Domestic Violence
Hacking systems of oppression and protecting our vital strengths: a feminist framework for self-defense by Christy Alves Nascimento and hosted by Take Back the Tech
Understanding Encryption: The Connections to Survivor Safety from Internet Society & National Network to End Domestic Violence
Podcasts and Webinars
Coda Currents: How tech perpetrates domestic violence; Who has access to your health data?
This episode looks at how abusers use stalkerware and smart homes to abuse survivors of domestic violence survivors. In addition, you’ll hear about considerations to make when sharing your health data, especially in light of the pandemic.
Safety Net partnered with Norton Life Lock to host two webinars on privacy and security tools for survivors:
- Webinar 1: Tools for Online Privacy and Security. This webinar explores tools like two-factor authentication, password managers, and social media account settings.
- English version, with captions and ASL interpretation
- Spanish version
- Webinar 2: Device and Account Security in Safety Planning for Relocation. This webinar takes a deeper dive into security and privacy planning when survivors are relocating.
- English version, with closed captions
- Spanish version
Podcasts – A National Resource Center on Tech Abuse
These six episodes are available in English and in Spanish transcripts on various topics related to online harassment, including cyber abuse on campus and survivor-centered storytelling
The State of Women and Online Harassment Podcast
Author and activist Bridget Todd discusses the online harassment that women and other marginalized people face and how to prevent it.
Dealing with cyberbullying – What would a feminist do?
What is it about the internet that makes people feel they have the freedom to say criminal, abusive things? Host Jessica Valenti – The Guardian’s most frequently targeted writer – talks about online harassment and what people can do about it.
National Crime Prevention Council hosts a podcast series exploring general cyberbullying information, taking action in schools, creating community change and how teens feel about cyberbullying
Online Harassment: the Plague of Social Media Why does the abuse happen and should there be limits to free speech on social media? A podcast by the BBC
Cyberbullying & Online Harassment Therapy for Black Girls chats with guests Dr. Brendesha Tynes and Dr. Danielle Hairston about what radicalized cyberbullying and harassment might look like online, how it impacts young people, how it might impacts mental health, and how we can support ourselves and loved ones who might have had these experiences.
Podcast – The war online: Abuse and harassment, and what journalists are doing about it Journalists have developed ways to deal with online harassment, from shutting down social media accounts, to confronting abusers, to advocating for change on a systemic level. In this episode, WAN IFRA hear about how that works.
Research
Tech Abuse in the Pandemic & Beyond: Reflections from the Field, 2021
Download the Executive Summary.
Download the Full Report.
Bystander Intervention on Social Media: Examining Cyberbullying and Reactions to Systemic Racism by Rashawn Ray, Melissa Brown, Ed Summers, Samantha Elizondo, and Connor Powelson
The State of Online Harassment by Emily A. Vogels from the Pew Research Center
Lessons from Piloting a Social Media Helpline from Social Media Helpline for Schools
Attacks and Harassment: The Impact on Female Journalists and Their Reporting by TrollBusters
Research & Statistics from Women’s Media Center
Silencing Women? Gender and Online Harassment by Marjan Nadim and Audun Fladmoe
Online harassment is a serious problem in America. This is where it’s happening from by Emily Vogels of the World Economic Forum
The Effect of Cyber Harassment and Sex on Self-Esteem and Depression by Ashley M. Case
Social Media Research and the Methodological Problem of Harassment: Foregrounding Researcher Safety by Bridget Gelms
Cyber-Harassment Survey from Center for Victim Research
Does Online Harassment Constitute Bullying? An Exploration of Online Harassment by Known Peers and Online-Only Contacts by Janis Wolak, J.D., Kimberly J. Mitchell, Ph.D., and David Finkelhor, Ph.D
Online Harassment Among College Students: A Replication Study Incorporating New Internet Trends by Megan Lindsay Brown and Judy Krysik
Online Harassment Isn’t Growing—But It’s Getting More Severe by Sophie Bertazzo
Statista data charts:
- U.S. internet users who have experienced online harassment 2020
- Number of U.S. states with state cyber bullying laws as of November 2018, by policy
- Percentage of internet users in selected countries who have ever experienced any cyber crime as of December 2019
- Overall awareness of cyber bullying in select countries worldwide as of April 2018, by country
- Percentage of teenagers in the United States who have encountered hate speech on social media platforms as of April 2018, by type
More
The Sample Log from the National Network to End Domestic Violence serves as a template to help victims of online harassment document conduct for their records.
Anti-Bullying Campaign Ideas and School Resources by Do Something
The STOMP Out Bullying HelpChat Line The goal of the STOMP Out Bullying™ Live HelpChat Line is to help you reduce the stress, depression and fear you are feeling as a result of being bullied and to empower you to make healthy decisions.