Read This: TrollBusters Recommended Reading

Every month, we’ll bring you notable news coverage of online harassment and abuse.

How Did We Get Here?

Understand the scope and statistics around online harassment and abuse.

Amnesty International recently released a report on women’s experiences with online abuse. They polled 4,000 women across eight countries. Twenty-three percent of those surveyed reported experiencing online harassment. And the figures get worse from there. Explore the findings.
In Pakistan, the non-governmental organization DRF released a report, “Digital (In)Security of Journalists in Pakistan.” It shows that most journalists had experienced harassment in some form, which had in some cases led to self-censorship. Read the highlights.
And, if you need an explainer on how we got here, this oldie-but-goodie from Time Magazine on How Trolls Are Ruining the Internet is a meaty, if depressing analysis.

Solving online harassment is challenging, even for the well-intentioned. Here are some of the new ideas being proposed.

Pew Research Center recently asked Americans for their views on what constitutes online harassment. Read the results of the study. Or Vox breaks it down for you.
In Germany, a new law, the network enforcement law (NetzDG), has gone into full effect to fight online harassment. It has haters on all sides.
In Australia, the proposed Dolly’s Law, named after a 14-year-old who took her own life after being cyberbullied, would ban perpetrators from social media, or at least from contacting their victims online. The proposed law would work much like a domestic violence restraining order.
And in Nigeria, Hajiya Maryam Ado-Haruna is calling for measures to prevent Gender-Based Violence Online.

Celebrities are speaking out too.

Anita Sarkeesian, the founder of Feminist Frequency and creator of Tropes vs. Women in Video Games, is starting a new video series and a book co-written with Ebony Adams, about daring women in history. The book is slated for October, but you can already enjoy episodes of The FREQ Show on YouTube.
You may be surprised to hear sports stars get trolled too (or maybe not…Serena Williams?). Now, tennis player Madison Keys and America’s Cup winner Jimmy Spithill told CNN how they respond.

Finally, the Feminist Fridays podcast tackles the topic of online harassment.