A survey released by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Feb. 13 found that 37 percent of Americans faced some form of “severe harassment” online in 2018.
The ADL defined “severe harassment” as “including physical threats, sexual harassment, stalking and sustained harassment.” Fifty-three percent of respondents said they had experienced some form of online harassment, which included “offensive name calling” and attempts to “purposefully embarrass them.”
Around 56 percent of respondents said they experienced harassment on Facebook, 19 percent said they experienced harassment on Twitter and 17 percent experienced harassment on YouTube.
Fifty-nine percent of respondents felt that such harassment resulted in making hate crimes a more frequent occurrence and 22 percent said online harassment “makes them feel less safe in their community.”
“It’s deeply disturbing to see how prevalent online hate is, and how it affects so many Americans,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “Cyberhate is not limited to what’s solely behind a screen; it can have grave effects on the quality of everyday lives – both online and offline.”
The survey interviewed 1,134 Americans from Dec. 17-27, 2018.
Read the full report here.
