Protecting Yourself After Online Targeting and Harassment

The resources on this page are adapted from Harvard University’s “Protecting against online abuse and harassment: resources for the Harvard community” and Columbia University’s “Resources to Assist After Online Targeting/Doxing.”

An increasing number of students are reporting being targeted and harassed online. Online targeting can take many forms: 

Doxing (or doxxing) is a form of intimidation involving the publication of someone’s personal information (e.g., private email, personal phone number, home address, family address) on various platforms in an attempt to frighten the individual and encourage additional harassment by others. Even if an individual’s private information is not posted, sharing certain information without permission about an individual may still be a form of online targeting because of the implicit encouragement that others criticize or harass the person being targeted.

Trolling occurs when individuals deliberately follow and provoke others online, often with offensive content. Trolling is often a nuisance, but trolling attacks occasionally can escalate to threats or to the point where numerous individuals are engaged in harassing the target and/or a target’s organization (also known as “brigading”).

Cyberbullying is willful, repeated harm inflicted using computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices.

MIT has policies prohibiting harassment by MIT community members (see MIT Policies on Harassment and The Mind and Hand Book). MIT takes reports of such harassment seriously and will follow up with impacted individuals, including by taking disciplinary action in some cases (see section 4 for options on reporting misconduct by MIT community members). However, when someone is targeted by individuals or organizations outside MIT, the Institute’s options to address the conduct are limited. 

Responding to Doxing

If you have been targeted or doxed, consider the following actions:

Regardless of what steps you may take, if you’re the target of online abuse, harassment, or threats, preserve evidence of your experience:

  • Save any emails, voicemails, or text messages that you receive.
  • Take screenshots or photos of content that could be deleted, such as social media posts or comments on posts.
  • If you feel that re-reading the offensive content could be upsetting, consider asking a friend or relative to assist

If an individual or organization has posted false or misleading statements about you on their website, social media accounts, or elsewhere, and these statements are causing you harm, report the account directly to the social media platform or web hosting service (see next section). Before you submit a request to take down harmful content, remember to save a copy of the content in order to preserve evidence of the abuse.

In the case of an organization, you might also consider sending a written request asking them to remove or correct the statements. In such a communication it is important that you: (1) identify yourself, (2) identify the statements that are false or misleading, (3) explain why the statements are false or misleading, and (4) describe how the statements are harming you. Not all requests will be successful, but organizations with financial resources and credibility in the broader community may see that correcting false, harmful information is in their self-interest. 

Takedown requests directed to individual user accounts on social media platforms may not be as well received—especially if the accounts are anonymous or pseudonymous. If the recipient of your initial request ignores or declines it, you may consider engaging an attorney to write a follow-up letter on your behalf.

If a user account has posted harassing statements about you on social media, you may submit a takedown request to the platform in accordance with its user agreement or content guidelines. Some popular platforms are listed below:

If the content is posted on a website operated by the individual(s) who targeted/doxed you (rather than on a social media platform), you may still be able to request that it be taken down by contacting the web hosting service. Many companies that provide web hosting services have their own community standards/acceptable use policies and allow visitors to websites to report abuse. Some common hosting services are listed below.

You can look up the host for a specific website by entering its URL into this database.

While laws around doxing are still developing, laws against harassment and intimidation may cover such behavior. The police may take a report when targeting/doxing is accompanied by harassing or similar conduct.

If you or those close to you are in imminent physical danger or there has been a direct threat of physical violence, contact MIT Police immediately. If there is no immediate physical threat but you have received a threat to your personal safety or have been harassed, you may consider one of the many reporting options compiled by the IDHR. If you have been targeted by another MIT student, you can also report the misconduct to OSCCS.

Federal and State laws provide significant legal protections with respect to free speech and expression. But those protections are not absolute. For example, the First Amendment does not protect obscenity, defamation, fraud, incitement, or speech integral to criminal conduct.

Although free speech principles may present legal barriers to lawsuits (and criminal prosecutions) based on an individual’s speech, you may wish to explore issuing a cease and desist letter and whether to pursue a legal complaint for online harassment related to targeting/doxing. In doing so, be sure to explore with a lawyer the benefits and risks of pursuing a legal claim, the cost of doing so, and the barriers to a successful claim.

Additionally, the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) has helpful information for those who need assistance on personal legal matters.

Online harassment of any kind can be extremely stressful. The following actions may help individuals respond to a difficult situation occurring online:

  • Consider temporarily disabling your social media profiles or switching them to private. This will ensure that only your close connections can post or comment in your feed.
  • Ignore the communications. Although your first instinct may be to respond and defend yourself online, responding to harassing messages can tend to prolong and inflame incidents. Often the objective of social media agitators is to elicit a response, which they can use to raise their profile still further. In addition, your response may provide more opportunity for harassment: i.e., the online abuser will find a way to mischaracterize, take out of context, and cast what you say in the worst possible light. Trolls may—but do not always—move on to other targets if you ignore them long enough.
  • Stick to the facts. If you do feel that a response is necessary, try to adhere to the following guidelines: (1) stick to facts that are not open to interpretation; (2) keep your response short, concise, and above all factual; (3) correct inaccuracies and move on; (4) avoid adopting an aggressive or defensive tone and resist the temptation to “fight fire with fire.” 
  • Mute the attacker. Most social media platforms allow users to “mute” particular accounts. Muting another user means that user’s communications are not viewable to you. The muted party ordinarily is not notified that you have muted them and may still comment on your social media posts, but you will not need to see those comments. If you are worried a muted user’s comments may become threatening, ask a friend or colleague to check your feed on your behalf.
  • Block the attacker. Several social media platforms allow you to “block” other accounts, meaning that they can longer follow you, see your posts, or comment on your content. Unless you have also muted the account, you will still be able to see a blocked user’s posts. Social media platforms ordinarily notify users when another account blocks them. Accordingly, they may choose to attack you elsewhere on the platform.

If you are concerned that online harassers can find you on campus or use your MIT email or phone number to direct harmful communications at you, you may explore the option of suppressing personal data designated as directory information under the Federal Education Record Privacy Act (FERPA). This action will omit data that you designate (i.e., name, email address, etc.) from MIT’s Online Directory, but it will have other downstream impacts as well. If interested, you are encouraged to contact the Registrar’s Office to learn about your options.

Removing personal information from across the internet can be a time-consuming and challenging task. The New York Times Digital Security Education Hub contains a list of resources for doxing security training, as used by The New York Times. These resources can help you prevent potential doxing by removing sensitive information from public access.

There are also services that can assist for a cost. This Consumer Reports article shares individual steps you can take, along with several companies who do this work such as Kanary and DeleteMe.