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Handling online harassment

Protect yourself from online harassment

Engaging with the media and the public can expose you to a wide diversity of opinions and concerns. While debate and scrutiny are important, harassment and threats are never acceptable and should never be considered as part of ‘doing your job’.

Harassment and online abuse can include:

  • abusive emails
  • social media ‘trolling’
  • malicious complaints to institutions or regulatory bodies
  • bombardment with Freedom of Information (FOI) requests
  • threatening or libellous online posts
  • pile ons - When a large group of abusers collectively attack. These may follow media appearances
  • doxxing - Sharing your personal details such as your home address or phone number online, resulting in offensive comments and unwanted contact from strangers.

Harassment and online abuse can cause real and significant harm(1,2) to your wellbeing and your professional life.

Disagreement can run deep, even among researchers, and by appearing in the media you are exposed to a larger audience - not everyone will agree with you. It is important to differentiate between negative comments or feedback and abuse or harassment. Ask yourself:

  • Is it repeated and unrelenting?
  • Is it coordinated?
  • Does it include personal attacks, or hate speech?
  • Is it menacing, harassing or offensive, or does it make you feel unsafe?
  • Is it intended to harm your physical or mental health?
  • How is it impacting you?
  • If it is affecting your quality of life?

Seek help if so.

Online harassment and abuse can result in you removing your voice from the debate. Don't forget there may be a silent majority out there who are more supportive. Keep in mind the reasons why you are doing your research in the first place. Not everyone will agree with you – but allowing people with extreme views to silence you could mean missing out on valuable opportunities to communicate with people who really need to hear about your work. Remember, online abuse does not always come from real people. Automated 'bot' social media accounts are common and can distort the debate.

It can help to ask yourself some questions (3):

  • How many people are there who have extreme views about my work?
  • Are they representative of the wider public?
  • Do they represent policymakers, funders, patients I treat, or other important stakeholders?
  • Do they have significant influence over any of the above?
  • How many people support what I am doing?

If researchers stop sharing their expertise with the public, all of us will be worse off.

Unfortunately, we know that the following people are at increased risk of harassment and online abuse (4):

  • Women
  • The LGBTQI+ community
  • People with disabilities
  • Indigenous and Torres Strait Islanders
  • Culturally or linguistically diverse people
  • Young people
  • People with a high profile in the media or on social media

Some areas of research may be more likely to generate harassment and threats. Work that may seem uncontroversial within your own discipline can spark public discussion, criticism, or outrage. This can include political or politicised content (such as climate change), cultural content, religious content, ethical content, and content about gender or sexuality.

Harassment and abuse may take place on your personal social media accounts and come from people outside your organisation. However, if you are receiving abuse because of the nature of the work you do, it is still a workplace issue and covered under workplace health and safety laws (5). Remember, you have a right to feel safe at work.

Hear from scientists who give real life accounts of how they have handled online abuse

How do I protect myself?

Adapted from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Guide for Supporting External Talent (6).

  • Keep personal and professional accounts separate.
    • Consider using a different name on your personal and professional accounts – e.g. use a nickname on personal Facebook accounts.
    • Remove personal details such as personal phone numbers and your home address from professional social media accounts and vice versa.
  • Check the privacy settings on your social media accounts.
  • Look yourself up online.
    • Google yourself and see where your name, phone number and address are listed online. You can request the removal of your data from data collection websites such as AeroLeads, Datanyze and Crunchbase.
    • Check online CVs for personal phone numbers and home addresses.
    • If you have a personal website registered under your name, look it up through whois-search.com. If your personal information is public, you can get domain privacy services from the company where you registered your domain name.
  • Review location settings.
    • Review location settings and posts on your social media accounts, including the tags and photos - e.g. a photo in front of a sold sign of your house could give away information about your location.
    • Avoid 'checking in' to locations regularly so that others can't monitor your habits.
  • Review password security.
    • Set up two-factor authentication.
    • Check your account names/email addresses with Have I been pwned? Immediately change account passwords that may have been compromised in data breaches.
    • Get a password manager or password keeper app – they are freely available in app stores. Look for the ones that are encrypted.

  • Be mindful of what you post and how it may be interpreted.
    • Avoid using inflammatory language and consider how your posts could be perceived.
  • Google your subject area and play devil’s advocate.
    • Write down potential criticisms and how you could respond to these. They may be useful for responding to respected stakeholders, such as journalists, politicians or patients.
  • Be honest and open about your work.
    • Declare anything that could be perceived as a conflict of interest, such as your funding sources, commercial ties, or membership with campaign organisations.
  • Talk to your organisation's media and communications team. They are experts in communicating.
  • Find your digital allies.
    • Speak to other high-profile academics in your area. They may have advice on subject-specific issues that can trigger online abuse.
    • Be proactive. Have conversations with people who may be able to come to your aid (7).

Have a clear plan for what you will do if you experience online harassment. Suggested plans could include:

  • Collect evidence. Take a screenshot or record the URL and handle of the account that posted the abuse.
  • Have a plan to look after your wellbeing. Online abuse can cause real harm (1,2).
    • A plan may include things you like doing (e.g. going for a walk), connecting with specific people (e.g. calling a friend), or things that bring you a sense of purpose and meaning.
  • Report the abuse - Don't go it alone, tell someone.
    • Report it to the platform, media outlet, to your work (this could include your line manager, the media team, IT department or the security department).
    • In Australia, report it to eSafety.
  • Reduce notifications. Mute or block the account. Reduce your notifications to only those you follow.
    • Ask colleagues to monitor your online content for you.
  • Know what support is available to you.    

Why am I being abused online?

Online trolls enjoy hurting others: Research suggests that people who troll enjoy seeing the harm and social mayhem they cause. They enjoy both directly hurting others and watching others get hurt (8,9).

To silence you: Online harassment can have the effect of silencing voices from public debate (10,11,12).

To push a view or distort debate? Some online abuse comes from people with opposing views, but automated social media accounts, or ‘bots’, are also common and can distort debatem (13). Around two-thirds of tweets linking to popular websites are posted by bots.

What do I do if I'm being harassed online?

The following is adapted from the ABC's Guide for supporting external talent(14) and eSafety's What to do if you experience online abuse(15)

Screenshot the offending content or download videos and report to the platform directly Important. Do this prior to blocking

Note the date, time, platform and username(s)

If abuse is via email, save the email and do not forward it. Forwarded emails may not contain important information called internet or email headers that can help to obtain IP addresses if needed. You can display and send full headers in various email programs.

If it is too distressing to collect the material yourself, ask someone to do this for you.

What type of abuse is this? Is it intended to cause harm and who might have sent it? Is it menacing, harassing or offensive? This will help you to decide whether to block, mute, ignore or report the message.

Red flags might include:

  • Do I know the person and do they have a history of erratic or violent behaviour?
  • Is the threat directed and specifc?
  • Is the abuse coming from a real person?
  • Has it followed you across platforms or offline?

Online abuse is a traumatic experience. Prioritise your mental health and seek help if feel that you need help. Australia's eSafety has these tips for taking care of your mental and emotional well-being(16).

  • Acknowledge your feelings – you are allowed to be upset.
  • Be kind to yourself – it’s not your fault that you have been abused.
  • Remember your strengths. Don’t let the opinions of others define your self-worth. Remind yourself of your best qualities and attributes.
  • Regularly practise self-care by making time for leisure, exercise, good nutrition and adequate sleep.
  • Try meditation or other relaxation techniques.
  • Surround yourself with positive people.
  • Allow yourself time to heal.

Don’t suffer on your own. Many people have had similar experiences and can offer advice, support and help.

  • Your peers - Do your peers know you are going through this? They may be able to jump online and become your digital allies(7). Gender Equity Victoria (GEN VIC) has developed a social media toolkit(17) to help people become active bystanders on social media.
  • Your institution - Does your line manager or head of department know what is going on? Making them aware allows them to help and if complaints are made against you they will already know the background. Your institution may also be able to give you support in dealing with social media criticism, FOI requests, engaging with the media and security advice.
  • AusSMC - We can offer support for researchers engaging with the news media. We may be able to help by contacting media outlets on your behalf or helping to coordinate activities with other researchers and institutions.
  • The media outlet - If the harassment and abuse follow a media appearance, the media outlet may be able to turn off comments on the story, moderate social media channels more closely or offer direct support. Some media outlets have staff dedicated to social media well-being.
  • eSafety - Australia's eSafety helps prevent and deal with adult cyber abuse and its impacts. They can investigate online abuse and provide information, education and resources.
  • Report it to the social media platform
  • Report it to eSafety. Report to the online platform first. If they don’t remove the content within 48 hours, report it to eSafety: www.esafety.gov.au/report/what-you-can-report-to-esafety
  • Report it to your employer – This could include your direct manager, your media/communication team, and your IT, security or HR departments.
  • Report it to the police if you fear for your safety:
  • If the abuse follows a media appearance contact your media/communications team, the journalist and media outlet involved and/or the AusSMC.
  • If it is too distressing to report yourself, ask someone to do this for you.

It is rarely worth your time to engage with trolls. Stay calm and take some time before you consider responding. Is responding going to be empowering or more traumatising?

  • Block or mute/restrict the individual on your personal platforms. If you block someone they will know they have been blocked. If you mute someone, you will not be notifed of their activity but they will not know this. This may prevent them from creating more accounts to harass you.
  • If someone gets access to your mobile number or email you can block them
  • Engage strategically. If people begin to contact you about your work, you may choose not to engage with anyone, or to engage only with select individuals.
  • If you do wish to respond, try 'counterspeech'. Counterspeech is any direct response to hateful or harmful speech which seeks to undermine it. This can include reminding the speaker of the harm that their abuse can do and the consequences of that online abuse. Research (18) has suggested that empathy-based messages can reduce some types of hate speech. For more info: dangerousspeech.org/counterspeech/
  • Reduce notifications to only those you follow until the incident passes (which it will, often quickly).
  • Mute keywords and hashtags being used to harass you
  • Limit who can tag you, mention you, comment on your posts and DMyou
  • Limit how people can find you on social media platforms
  • Understand where you are most vulnerable – is one platform eg X (Twitter), Facebook? Consider taking a break from this platform.
  • Make sure your personal and professional accounts are separate. Consider using a different name on your personal and professional accounts – eg use a nickname on personal Facebook accounts.
  • Do a privacy and security checkup on social media accounts. Complete a privacy checkup and security checkup on Facebook. Step through the safety guides for X (Twitter), Instagram, Linkedin and TikTok. The eSafety Guide(19) has information on a range of platforms
  • Look yourself up online. Google your name, your phone number and address to see where they are listed online. Request your contact details be removed.
  • Review location settings
  • Review password security
  • Book an eSafety social media self-defence session for your workplace

Getting back out there

Give yourself permission to move on to other projects.

The Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma suggests these steps may help protect your well-being from the ongoing effects of trauma:

  • Revisit your sense of purpose - Having a clear sense of purpose or a mission. Keep in mind the reasons why you are doing your research in the first place. What difference are you trying to make in the world?
  • Maintain social connections - Connecting with family and friends. Step away from the trauma and have a connection outside of work.
  • Do some physical activity - The fight or fight response to trauma can leave your body awash with stress hormones. Exercise allows the body to expel some of these physiological responses to trauma. It can be as simple as going for a quick walk outside – or even standing up and shaking your body out at your desk.

There are additional steps you may wish to take to reduce harassment before engaging with the public again. The following suggestions are adapted from Best Practices for Conducting Risky Research and Protecting Yourself from Online Harassment (20).(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 DEED)

  • Notify your institution that you are engaging with the media/public and may be susceptible to online backlash.
  • Talk to campus security about the options available if you are concerned for your physical safety. Instruct colleagues and department administrators not to reveal any personal information about you over the phone or via email.
  • Find your digital allies: Reach out to people doing similar research. Be proactive about building community and having conversations with people who understand your experiences. Invest time and attention into building offline friendships and relationships.
  • Public email aliases: Consider creating an email alias on your institutional or professional domain that points to your primary email address. List this alias anytime you must publish your email address online (e.g., on your website or CV). − You can also create mail filters so that messages sent to this alias are routed to a designated folder separate from your primary inbox. − If you are a frequent target of harassment, consider creating different aliases to publish on particular channels, which may help you track where harassing messages originate.
  • Consider removing your office address from university directories
  • Consider creating a virtual phone number that forwards to your personal phone; list this number anytime you must publish your phone number online. This makes it possible to disconnect, if necessary, without compromising your personal phone number.
  • Request to have your name removed from the public electoral roll. You can apply to be registered as a silent elector if you believe having your address included on the publicly available electoral roll could put you or your family’s safety at risk

  1. eSafety, Adults’ negative online experiences, 2020 https://www.esafety.gov.au/research/adults-negative-online-experiences
  2. Global Witness, Global Hating: How online abuse of climate scientists harms climate action, 2023
    https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/global-hating/
  3. Science Media Center (UK), Advice for researchers experiencing harassment https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/publications/publications-for-scientists/ 
  4. eSafety, Protecting voices at risk online, 2020. https://www.esafety.gov.au/communities/protecting-voices-risk-online
  5. Safe Work Australia, Online abuse in the workplace Information for employers.
    https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/default/fi les/2021-5/Workplace_online_abuse_employers.pdf 
  6. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Supporting external talent
  7. eSafety, How to be an upstander https://www.esafety.gov.au/young-people/be-an-upstander
  8. Evita March and Genevieve Steele.High Esteem and Hurting Others Online: Trait Sadism Moderates the Relationship Between Self-Esteem and Internet Trolling.Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.Jul 2020.441-446 http://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2019.0652
  9. Marrington JZ, March E, Murray S, Jeffries C, Machin T, March S. An exploration of trolling behaviours in Australian adolescents: An online survey. PLoS One. 2023 Apr 12;18(4):e0284378. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0284378.
  10. Nogrady B. 'I hope you die': how the COVID pandemic unleashed attacks on scientists. Nature. 2021 Oct;598(7880):250-253. doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-02741-x.
  11. AusSMC, Pandemic levels of abuse directed at COVID-19 experts, 2021 https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/expert-reaction-pandemic-levels-of-abuse-directed-at-covid-19-experts
  12. eSafety, Adults’ negative online experiences, 2020 https://www.esafety.gov.au/research/adults-negative-online-experiences
  13. Pew Research Center, April 2018, “Bots in theTwittersphere” https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2018/04/09/bots-in-the-twittersphere/
  14. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Supporting external talent.
  15. eSafety, Managing the impacts of adult cyber abuse https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-topics/adult-cyber-abuse/managing-the-impacts-of-adult-cyber-abuse
  16. eSafety, Flowchart: What to do if you experience online abuse, https://www.esafety.gov.au/women/women-in-the-spotlight/take-action
  17. Gender Equity Victoria, Online Active Bystander Project, https://www.genvic.org.au/focus-areas/safety-respect/online-active-bystander-project/
  18. Hangartner D., Gennaro G., Alasiri S., Bahrich N., Bornhoft A., Boucher J., Demirci B. B., Derksen L., Hall A., Jochum M., Munoz M. M., Richter M., Vogel F., Wittwer S., Wüthrich F., Gilardi F., Donnay K. (2021). Empathy-based counterspeech can reduce racist hate speech in a social media field experiment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 118(50), Article e2116310118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2116310118
  19. eSafety, The eSafety Guide, https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-issues/esafety-guide
  20. Marwick, A., Blackwell, L., & Lo, K. (2016). Best Practices for Conducting Risky Research and Protecting Yourself from Online Harassment (Data & Society Guide). New York: Data & Society Research Institute.

Other resources and further information

  • The eSafety Commissioner. esafety.gov.au/
  • PEN America. Online Harassment Field Manual. onlineharassmentfieldmanual.pen.org/
  • Dutch Universities Guide for Protecting Scientists Against (Online) Threats and Harassment - wetenschapveilig.nl/en/scientists
  • Wright, J.M., Chun, W.H.K., Clarke, A., Herder, M., Ramos, H. Protecting Expert Advice for the Public: Promoting Safety and Improved Communications. Royal Society of Canada. 2022

This module was produced by the AusSMC with financial support from the following organisations: