Digital Abuse & Harassment is the use of digital communication platforms and technologies to harass, intimidate, or harm individuals. It involves the persistent and unwelcome targeting of a person through various online channels, including social media, email, messaging apps, online forums, or gaming platforms.
Examples of digital harassment include:
Examples of digital harassment include:
- Cyberbullying: this involves sending threatening, insulting, or demeaning messages, comments, or posts to an individual, often repeatedly. It can also include spreading rumours, sharing embarrassing or private information without consent, or creating fake profiles to impersonate or humiliate the victim.
- Online Stalking: this entails the persistent monitoring, tracking, and surveillance of an individual's online activities, often to cause fear or distress. It can involve excessive following, tracking personal information, or repeatedly sending unsolicited messages. This can also be a part of intimate partner abuse.
- Doxxing: the act of publicly revealing or sharing someone's private and personal information online without their consent, such as their home address, phone number, or workplace. This information is typically shared with the intent to harass or harm the individual.
- Sextortion: is sexual extortion. It involves the threat of having sexual information, photos or videos shared. This is done to control behavior, pressure the person to share further images or get money from them.
- Revenge Porn: this is also known as non-consensual pornography, involves the distribution or sharing of sexually explicit images or videos of someone without their consent. It is done to embarrass, humiliate, or blackmail the victim. Intimate images can be shared in a number of ways, including: by text, social media or showing a physical or digital copy to another person.