In 2022 I have wrote a comment for NBC News Think About leg hair, of all things. The article described a month-long experiment in which I stopped shaving. Apart from a paragraph about bodily autonomy and Roe v. Wade, I thought it was a mild article. Even boring.
The internet thought otherwise. Within an hour of publishing, I started receiving angry emails in all caps. Then it started on Twitter. I’ve been called everything from stupid and self-centered to a sasquatch. I was accused of hating men and pressuring women.
The flood lasted almost two weeks. I ended up with dozens of nasty emails, almost a thousand social media notifications, and no idea how to deal with what I had experienced.
Unfortunately, these cases of online harassment are becoming more and more common. In 2021, the Pew Research Center reported that 41 percent of U.S. adults had experienced online harassment; The Anti-Defamation League reported an increase to 52 percent in 2023. Public and semi-public figures are particularly at risk, as recent studies on American journalists, Zimbabwean journalists and female members of parliament in Sweden show.
But the truth is that on social media, anyone with an account can experience harassment. Here’s what to do if this happens to you.
Document everything
Knee-deep in hate mail, I reached out to a former supervisor of my thesis who had written editorials. How did he deal with the trolls?
His answer: Document everything. If you need to report the harassment to a social platform or to law enforcement, you will need a variety of evidence to support the harassment.
Save the unpleasant emails in a special folder, either manually or using keywords to automatically filter and forward all relevant emails.
On social media, screenshot what people are saying. This gives you permanent digital proof, which is important if the troll comments later disappear, either because the trolls deleted them or because someone reported the comments, which led to their removal. Save all of these screenshots in a folder that can be easily shared with anyone investigating your harassment.
Documenting harassment is common advice found in resources from writing-specific organizations like PEN America to larger organizations like the University of Chicago and the National Network to End Domestic Violence.
Don’t react
Another common piece of advice is, “Don’t feed the trolls.” If you don’t respond to harassment, the trolls will theoretically get bored and leave. Some have argued that this advice has failed because it places the onus on the victim to stop cyberbullying; it suggests that it is not that Trolls who must stop, but rather the victim who must turn the other cheek.
This is a valid criticism; Social media platforms should build better moderation systems and restrict users who violate harassment standards. Ideally, events like the 2024 Child Safety Hearing before the U.S. Congress will lead to changes that make the Internet safer for everyone. In a perfect world, the responsibility lies with Big Tech.