What is online abuse?
Online abuse is behaviour that has a threatening, intimidating, harassing or humiliating affect on a person.
Women who have a public profile because of their work are especially at risk of being targeted.
Online abuse can hurt you socially or psychologically, or even lead to physical harm. It can take many forms, including stalking and sexual harassment.
eSafety has legal powers to help protect people who live in Australia from the most serious online abuse and harmful content.
Common types of online abuse
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Trolling
Someone online is deliberately provoking an argument or emotional reaction from me.
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Image-based abuse
Someone has shared or threatened to share intimate images or videos of me without my consent.
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Sexual extortion
Someone is using my intimate images or videos to blackmail me.
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Impersonation accounts
A fake social media account has been set up in my name to humiliate me.
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Doxing
My personal details have been shared online, resulting in offensive comments and unwanted contact from strangers.
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Deepfakes/morphing
My face has been added to a nude of someone else's body and posted online.
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Defamatory comments
Someone has posted comments intended to harm my reputation.
Impacts of online abuse
Online abuse can have a devastating impact. It can affect women’s wellbeing, mental health, confidence, relationships and sense of safety.
It can also lead to women stepping back from public conversations or self-censoring out of fear for their privacy and safety.
Online abuse can quickly intensify in scale and nature. It can also feel deeply personal.
It's important to remember that online abuse is never acceptable; it reflects badly on the person who is abusing you.
Last updated: 29/09/2022