Harassment online, eg in social media, is an issue that many academic staff encounter at some point in their career. It is often described as 'trolling' or 'cyberbullying'. The guidance below will help you decide how to act if you, or one of your colleagues or students, is affected by this.
For general guidance on the use of social media in the University, please see:
Online harassment or 'cyberbullying' can be defined as:
Trolling can be defined as:
If you're being harassed online, or you know someone who is, you should follow the guidance below in tackling the situation. Avoid responding online.
It may be difficult, but it's always best to avoid getting into discussions online with the person who is posting abuse. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that you will be able to resolve things by responding - the person (or their persona) attacking you is often posting the messages just to get a reaction.
If a member of staff is harassing another member of staff online, you should report this to your Line Manager in the first instance. If your Line Manager is unavailable, you should report it to the Department's Manager or Head.
If you don't feel that you can speak to any of these people about the situation, you should report the issue to HR or the Equality and Diversity Office.
Harassment is a disciplinary matter and will be treated in line with HR policy:
If a student is harassing another student or a member of staff, or posting offensive material online, you should raise this with the Head of their department or college. We advise that you deal with social media harassment issues offline and in confidence, as quickly as possible. Only those who need to know should be told what is happening, and the situation should be dealt with sensitively. Once again, University policy must be followed.
You may encounter fake profiles, which are set up using someone else's personal information and photos, to pretend to be that person online. These fake accounts may be used to 'friend' or communicate with your colleagues and friends, in order to get personal information, to ridicule you, or to damage your personal reputation.
You can report fake profiles to the relevant social media provider:
The University's Equality and Diversity Office provide information and advice at:
Any kind of bullying, whether it's online or offline, is upsetting to those who are being attacked, but there are places that can offer you support:
While it's tempting to offer visible support online - for example, replying to messages on behalf of others, this is not advisable as you could end up becoming a victim of the harassment too.
Reporting messages to social media platforms, on behalf of others, is encouraged and can often strengthen the case for platforms to delete the offending accounts or content.
You can also point colleagues to the Confidential Care line and the Equality and Diversity Office so that they can get the support they need.
Some social media platforms offer the ability to delete (or hide) comments posted on your content. All platforms give you the option to report and block other users.
To remove comments on a personal profile, hover over the right of the comment, and click on the cross which appears.
If you want to remove comments from a Page, follow Facebook's instructions:
Facebook offer extensive advice including:
On Twitter you can't remove other people's comments but you can report tweets.
You can decide levels of access to your account - it can be Open (anyone can view and follow your account) or Protected (people have to be approved by you to follow your account, and your tweets can't be retweeted). You can also Mute or Block other people's accounts. If you Mute an account, you won't see their comments, but they can still see your posts. If you Block an account, you can't see their posts and they can't see yours (but note that if your account is open, they will be able to see your posts if they're not logged in).
There are steps that you can take which will help to protect your accounts from being targeted.
Dr Sara Perry (Archaeology) speaks about her experiences of managing negative attention on social media:
Citizens Advice Bureau provide general advice on further action about discrimination and harassment:
Get Safe Online offers general non-university specific advice about being safe on social media: