Online Harassment 2017

Lee Rainie - @lrainie

Director Internet and Technology Research
October 11, 2017
Cyber Health and Safety Summit
 41% have experienced harassment (up from 35% in 2014)
66% have witnessed it
% of U.S. adults who have experienced ____ online

10/10/2017 3
 Younger adults especially likely to encounter severe forms of
online harassment
% of U.S. adults who say they have experienced the following types of harassment online, by age
 Online harassment is subjective – some consider their
experience harassment while others do not; or are uncertain
Among the 41% of U.S. adults who meet the survey’s definition of online harassment, % who …

October 10, 2017 www.pewresearch.org 5

73% of young men feel offensive content online is taken too
seriously
% of U.S. adults who feel that offensive content online is …

Too often excused Taken too seriously

All adults 43 56

Men 35 64
Women 50 49

Men 18-29 25 73
Women 18-29 45 54
Men 30+ 37 61
Women 30+ 51 47
 Harassment reasons

Political views 14%

Physical appearance 9

Gender 8

Race/ethnicity 8

Religion 5

Sexual orientation 3

Occupation 3

Disability 1
Social media is the most common venue for online harassment
(most recent episode)
October 10, 2017 www.pewresearch.org 9
 Many don’t know who is behind their harassment

Among the 41% of U.S. adults who have experienced online harassment, % who say
_____ was involved in their most recent incident
 Larger share of internet users view online environment as space
that facilitates harassment vs. 2014

% of internet users who say the online environment allows people to be ___ compared with their offline
experiences
2014 2017

92 93
86
68% 64%
62

More More critical of More supportive

anonymous others of others
 Americans see positive and negative effects of anonymity

% of U.S. adults who think that people posting online anonymously …

Enables people to be cruel or harass 89%

one another
Allows discussion of sensitive topics
85

Makes it hard to trust what people 83

share
Makes people feel more private and 77
secure
Is important to protecting freedom of
59
speech

October 10, 2017 www.pewresearch.org 12

One quarter of harassment targets found most experience
extremely or very upsetting

Extremely Very Somewhat A little Not at all

12 13 25 26 23%
 Online harassment causes mental or emotional stress for 13% of
Americans – 24% of young adults
% of U.S. adults who say they have experienced the following due to online harassment
Most ignore harassment; when they respond it’s likely to block or
unfriend someone
 28% have chosen not to post something online after seeing
harassment of others
% of U.S. adults who have ____ after witnessing harassing behaviors directed toward others
online
Set up or adjusted privacy
settings 28%

Chosen not to post something

online 27

Changed any info in online 16

profiles
Stopped using an online service
13

Any of these 47

October 10, 2017 www.pewresearch.org 16

Americans look to online companies to address harassment on
their platforms -
% of U.S. adults who say people being harassed or bullied online
is …

% who say the most effective way to address online harassment is …

 % who say online services …

October 10, 2017 www.pewresearch.org 18

Women are more concerned about harassment

% of U.S. adults who say…

26% of Americans have had false information posted about them
 Thank you!

Email: lrainie@pewresearch.org

Twitter: @lrainie
@pewinternet
@pewresearch

October 10, 2017 www.pewresearch.org 21