Why We Need to Pay Attention to Online Harassment
Between Gamergate and the conclusion of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, it seemed like we had reached peak online toxicity. Yet in retrospect—and as we hurtle towards 2020—it seems there was never even a plateau. Despite wider recognition of online harassment as a problem, it shows few signs of abating. In just the last few weeks, tragedies in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio resurfaced connections between online vitriol and devastating real life violence. Dozens of journalists were doxxed by Neo-Nazi groups and new SWATing attempts were made. Those who called out bots, “trolls” and impersonators on Twitter, even before Gamergate, are still spotting them.
Online harassment threatens individuals, communities and our public discourse. Our online lives are no longer separate from our offline ones. That’s why it’s so important for us to recognize this epidemic and create unconventional alliances and collaborations to lessen its damage.
This infographic provides a snapshot of online harassment in 2019, including statistics, tactics and recommended courses of action. What does online harassment look like today? How did we get here? What can we do to collectively and collaboratively create better outcomes for targets of online harassment? How can we reduce the number of future cases? And, probably more relevant now than ever, what can we learn from the past to make 2020 more civil and safe?
This infographic is part of a larger project to document the state of online harassment today. Download our full, extensive report here.
This infographic is part of a larger project to document the state of online harassment today. Download our full, extensive report here.
The full report dives into:
- The evolution of online harassment and its effects
- How individuals experience online harassment
- Tactics and attributes of harassment
- Grassroots groups and civil society initiatives supporting targets of online harassment
- Current research about online harassment and related topics
- New frameworks and exhibits about how online harassment works
Originally published at https://onlinesos.org.
Infographic content by Allison Gauss, editorial byTerri Harel, design by Alex Chen.
