Protect yourself
If you are experiencing online harassment you can take the following steps to protect yourself:
- If the harasser is known to you, make it clear that you do not want them to contact you again
- Do not engage with individual cyberbullies
- Block the accounts or individuals committing the unwanted behaviour
- Change personal contact information such as phone numbers or email addresses
- Make a record of the interactions and log any harassing activity with timestamps
- Save all the evidence of communication in electronic and in hard copy format, do not edit or alter these in any way
- Report the incident to the university or the police
Report
Talking to someone and seeking support following unwanted behaviour can be difficult. If you think you or someone you know has experienced an incident of online harassment, there are a variety of report options available to students and staff. You can report unwanted online behaviour in the following ways:
Reporting at Durham University:
You can report all forms of online harassment anonymously or with contact details via this Report and Support tool (see below). You can also report online harassment from students through the procedures set out in the Bullying and Harassment Policy and Procedure for Students; and you can report unwanted online behaviour from staff through the Respect at Work policy and procedures. Cases of online sexual harassment can be reported through the Sexual Misconduct and Violence Policy and related procedures.
Reporting externally:
You can call the police on 999 to report emergencies or by calling 101 for non-emergencies.
Content linked to terrorism can be reported through https://www.gov.uk/report-terrorism
You can report child sexual abuse content, criminally obscene adult content, and non-photographic child sexual abuse images here: https://www.iwf.org.uk/
Hate crime including online content can be reported at: www.report-it.org.uk
Harmful or upsetting content can be reported at: https://reportharmfulcontent.com
If you have been the victim of fraud contact https://www.cifas.org.uk
To report cybercrime contact www.actionfraud.police.uk/
Reporting to Social media platforms:
Support
Please click on the headings for further information.