Pew Releases Findings on Online Harassment Maeve Duggan - Pew Research Center
go to original November 1, 2014

Harassment - from garden-variety name calling to more threatening behavior -  is a common part of online life that colors the experiences of many web users. Fully 73% of adult internet users have seen someone be harassed in some way online and 40% have personally experienced it, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center.

Pew Research asked respondents about six different forms of online harassment. Those who witnessed harassment said they had seen at least one of the following occur to others online:

• 60% of internet users said they had witnessed someone being called offensive names
• 53% had seen efforts to purposefully embarrass someone
• 25% had seen someone being physically threatened
• 24% witnessed someone being harassed for a sustained period of time
• 19% said they witnessed someone being sexually harassed
• 18% said they had seen someone be stalked

Those who have personally experienced online harassment said they were the target of at least one of the following online:

• 27% of internet users have been called offensive names
• 22% have had someone try to purposefully embarrass them
• 8% have been physically threatened
• 8% have been stalked
• 7% have been harassed for a sustained period
• 6% have been sexually harassed

In Pew Research Center’s first survey devoted to the subject, two distinct but overlapping categories of online harassment occur to internet users. The first set of experiences is somewhat less severe: it includes name-calling and embarrassment. It is a layer of annoyance so common that those who see or experience it say they often ignore it.

The second category of harassment targets a smaller segment of the online public, but involves more severe experiences such as being the target of physical threats, harassment over a sustained period of time, stalking, and sexual harassment.

Of those who have been harassed online, 55% (or 22% of all internet users) have exclusively experienced the “less severe” kinds of harassment while 45% (or 18% of all internet users) have fallen victim to any of the “more severe” kinds of harassment. Online harassmentOnline harassment tends to occur to different groups in different environments with different personal and emotional repercussions.

Read the full report at Pew Research Center

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