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Please note that reports will not be monitored during the bank holiday weekend, from 5pm on 02 April 2026 until 9am on 07 April 2026. Reports received during the break will be dealt with when the central University services resume. If you are in immediate danger, please call 999. Other emergency contact information can be viewed on this webpage.

Over the holidays, students’ first point of contact for anything related to their own or someone’s welfare is their College Student Support Office. Further wellbeing resources and advice for staff/students can also be found on this SharePoint page.

Definition

Online harassment can be defined as the use of information and communication technologies by an individual or group to repeatedly cause harm to another person. 
 
This may involve threats, embarrassment, or humiliation in an online setting. This includes expressions of discriminatory attitudes and beliefs—such as sexism, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia or ableist prejudices. It also includes online sexual harassment, cyberstalking, and image based sexual abuse or other unwanted online conduct of a sexual nature. 
 
Online harassment is also known as cyberaggression, cyberbullying, cyber-harassment, cyberhate, cybervictimisation and deviant online behaviour. It takes place in contexts such as social media (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and Twitter), SMS, instant messaging (via devices, email provider services, apps, and social media messaging features) and email. 

Examples

  • spreading rumours, ridiculing, and/or demeaning others
  • harassing others because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity
  • seeking revenge or deliberately embarrassing a person online
  • engaging in unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature via text, email or other electronic and/or social media including using intimate images or recordings of another person
  • impersonating others, even through their own accounts, with malicious intent 
  • sending inflammatory, inappropriate, rude and/or violent messages or comments about someone to provoke responses from other users
  • exposing others to unwanted or offensive content in digital groups or meetings 

Effects

The kinds of unwanted behaviours described above can provoke a range of physical, psychological, and emotional effects: 
  • stress, anxiety and/or panic attacks
  • loss of self-esteem
  • feelings of powerlessness
  • changes in sleep and eating patterns
  • hypervigilance and increased anxiety
  • fear for personal safety
  • reduced academic and professional performance
Back

There are two ways you can tell us what happened

Report anonymously or Report with contact details