Training modules/Dealing with online harassment/slides/assistance-you-can-offer

From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki

Off-wiki harassment: Assistance you can offer[edit]

Protecting their personal information[edit]

For a more extensive list of ideas, see RAINN's list

A user who has been doxed or threatened off-wiki will often be extremely concerned about their personal safety, given that the perpetrator has such information about their life. While you cannot directly protect a user's information or safety, there are some resources you can direct them to about how to protect their information:

  • They should verify, and potentially tighten, their social media privacy settings. Most of these websites offer a help page or wizard to help users choose what privacy settings work best for them. For instance, here is a guide to Facebook's privacy settings
  • They may want to request removal of their personal information from "people search" websites. In some countries, personal details such as names, addresses, and phone numbers are considered public information, and for-profit websites gather and package this information for re-sale. Most such websites include an "opt-out" method for people who do not want their information shared this way, but those methods are not always easy to locate. A "how to" guide like this one may help a user have their information taken down.

Securing their accounts on other sites[edit]

When a user reports that an account they own has been compromised, or "hacked", you can suggest some important steps they should take immediately:

  • Ask the user to check their password security. It is usually a simple matter for the user to reset their password for the compromised account, and they should be sure to do the same for any other online accounts for which they have used the same, or a related, password.
  • Contact the administration or Trust and Safety team of the website their account was compromised on, if it has been. These teams can often secure or restore an account with the tools available to them.
  • Consider enabling two-factor authentication on sites where it is available. This service will mean that even if someone has their username and password, they will still not be able to access their account without the second "factor". This process usually involves linking an account to a mobile device.