U.S. internet users who have experienced online harassment 2021

During a January 2021 survey it was found that 41 percent of internet users had personally experienced any kind of online harassment with 27 percent of respondents reporting to having experienced severe forms of online harassment such as physical threats, sexual harassment, stalking and sustained harassment. Furthermore, 77 percent of responding online harassment victims reported that they had been harassed on Facebook.

Share of adult internet users in the United States who have personally experienced online harassment as of January 2021

Characteristic	Share of respondents
Any harassment	41%
Offensive name-calling	35%
Purposeful embarassment	26%
Any form of severe harassment	27%
Physical threats	18%
Sexual harassment	12%
Stalking	13%
Sustained harassment	12%

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Release date

March 2021

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

January 7, 2021 to January 15, 2021

Number of respondents

2,251 respondents

Age group

18 years and older

Method of interview

Online survey

Supplementary notes

Eight hundred and seventy-six surveys were collected to form a nationally representative base of respondents with additional oversamples from individuals who identified as Jewish, Muslim, African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic or Latino, or LGBTQ+. For the oversampled target groups, responses were collected until at least 200 Americans were represented from each of those groups. We oversampled the Jewish population until 500 Jewish Americans responded. Data was weighted on the basis of age, gender identity, race, census region, and education to adjust for national representation.

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