The public’s attitudes diverge in similarways on some of the more severe behaviors in the scenario. Most prominently, 85% of Americansthink that Julie experiences online harassment when she begins to receive vulgar messages abouther looks and sexual behavior. But substantially fewer (although still a majority at 66%) think thatthe social media platform has an obligation to step in and address that behavior.

The public has a higher threshold for behaviors thatconstitute “online harassment” than for behaviors that necessitate a responsefrom social media platforms

Again,majorities agree that the platforms should step in to address behaviors such as threateningmessages.

ave found that online harassment is a common phenomenon in thedigital lives of many Americans, and that a majority of Americans feel harassment online is amajor problem.

Early on, circa 2015, there was a while when every first-person writer who might once have written a Tumblr began writing a TinyLetter. At the time, the writer Lyz Lenz observed that newsletters seemed to create a new kind of safe space. A newsletter’s self-selecting audience was part of its appeal, especially for women writers who had experienced harassment elsewhere online.