If you’ve spent enough time on the internet, it’s likely someone will have sent you an abusive message at some point.
If you’re lucky, it’s a stray comment from an anonymous user. If you’re not so lucky, it’s a torrent of harassment from multiple accounts.
Online harassment comes in many shapes and forms. Lindy West wrote for the Guardian about one particularly cruel example, when someone targeted her by posting on Twitter as her dead father. In 2012, a student in Wales was jailed for tweeting racist comments about footballer Fabrice Muamba. These are just two examples of instances where online harassment has been in the news. There are many, many examples from all over the world of people, both public and private figures, facing abuse online.
After years of “don’t feed the trolls”, “just log off” and comments about online harassment being part and parcel of the free web, social networks are hoping to tackle the problem head on.
Twitter is attempting to come to terms with its abuse problem, introducing an expert safety council made up of specialist charities as well as new anti-harassment features. Reddit spent 2015 attempting to clean up the more unsightly parts of its site, which included racist and white supremacist communities.
We’d like to hear about how you’ve been affected by harassment or abuse online. Tell us about the first time you were harassed online – or the most memorable occasion you were targeted by online abuse.
What happened and what did you do about it? Were the police involved and was the problem ever resolved? How did it affect you and your behaviour online?
Share your stories via the form below and we may use some in our coverage.
