Pew Online Harassment Demographics: Key Statistical Benchmarks for Forum Moderation Policies
Establishing clear community guidelines requires understanding the baseline behavior users encounter across digital platforms. When setting disciplinary tiers, report escalation pathways, and rules against abuse, forum administrators can evaluate their workflows against national survey data. The Pew Research Center report on The State of Online Harassment details the frequency, severity, and perceived catalysts of digital abuse based on a representative sample of 10,093 U.S. adults.
The Overall Prevalence: 41% Experience Abuse and 25% Face Severe Incidents
General harassment remains widespread across digital channels. Pew Research Center determined that 41% of American adults have personally experienced some form of online harassment within at least one of six measured categories: offensive name-calling, purposeful embarrassment, physical threats, stalking, harassment over a sustained period of time, or sexual harassment. While this 41% baseline matched numbers measured in 2017, severe categories of abuse showed marked growth.
More severe harassment—encompassing physical threats, stalking, sustained harassment, and sexual harassment—affected 25% of U.S. adults in the survey, rising from 18% in 2017 and 15% in 2014. Additionally, 28% of adults reported experiencing multiple types of online harassment, up from 19% in 2017 and 16% in 2014. Meanwhile, 37% experienced less severe behaviors (name-calling or purposeful embarrassment), compared to 36% in 2017. For community leads drafting a forum rules template, these numbers highlight why policies must distinguish between general incivility and predatory, repeated, or threatening conduct.
The Age Factor: 64% of Adults Under 30 Target Baseline
Exposure to hostile interactions changes sharply across age cohorts. Adults under 30 are significantly more likely to face harassing behavior than older age demographics:
- Ages 18 to 29: 64% have encountered online harassment, making it the only age band where a majority has experienced these behaviors. Furthermore, 48% of young adults have faced more severe forms of online harassment.
- Ages 30 to 49: About half of adults in this group have experienced online harassment, with 32% facing more severe harassment.
- Ages 50 and older: 26% have encountered harassment online, and 12% have been subjected to more severe forms.
These age discrepancies show that communities serving younger demographics experience elevated exposure to hostile encounters, requiring responsive escalation channels.
Gender Differences in Severity, Types, and Emotional Impact
Overall rates of harassment show slight variations between genders, but substantial differences appear in the specific types of abuse reported:
- Total prevalence: 43% of men report experiencing any form of online harassment, compared with 38% of women.
- Name-calling and threats: Men are more likely than women to experience offensive name-calling (35% vs. 26%) and physical threats (16% vs. 11%).
- Sexual harassment and stalking: Women are more likely than men to report sexual harassment (16% vs. 5%) and stalking (13% vs. 9%). Among women under 35, fully 33% report experiencing sexual harassment online, compared to 11% of men under 35.
- Severity of impact: 61% of women consider online harassment a major problem, compared to 48% of men. Among targets of abuse, 34% of women say their most recent encounter was extremely or very upsetting, compared with 14% of men. Conversely, 61% of harassed men and 36% of harassed women described themselves as not at all or a little upset. Across all targets, 24% described their most recent incident as extremely (10%) or very (14%) upsetting.
Advising teams through a comprehensive forum moderation guide ensures moderators understand that different categories of violations generate differing levels of disruption for members.
Perceived Reasons for Abuse: Politics (20%) and Identity Benchmarks
When asked why they believed they were singled out, 20% of all adults—representing 50% of those who have faced harassment—cited their political views. This rose from 14% of all Americans in 2017. Other perceived reasons among U.S. adults include:
- Gender: Cited by 14% of all adults (33% of targets). Among targets, 47% of women and 18% of men cited gender.
- Race or ethnicity: Cited by 12% of all adults (29% of targets). Among targets, 54% of Black adults, 47% of Hispanic adults, and 17% of White adults cited race or ethnicity.
- Sexual orientation: Cited by 50% of lesbian, gay, or bisexual targets, compared with 12% of straight targets. In total, roughly seven-in-ten LGB adults reported any harassment, and 51% experienced severe harassment, compared to 23% of straight adults.
- Partisan divides: Among targets, men were more likely than women to cite politics (57% vs. 42%), and White targets were 18 points more likely than Black or Hispanic targets to cite political views. However, White Democrats and White Republicans cited political views at similar rates (55% vs. 57%).
Platform Venues: 25% of Abuse Targets Cite Discussion Sites
According to the findings published by Pew Research Center, social media platforms are the most common location for recent harassment, cited by 75% of targets (equal to 31% of all adults). However, independent channels also see negative encounters:
- Forums or discussion sites: Cited by 25% of harassment targets for their most recent experience. Men were 13 percentage points more likely than women to state their recent harassment occurred on forums or discussion sites.
- Texting and messaging apps: Cited by 24% of targets.
- Gaming: Men were also 13 percentage points more likely than women to report their recent harassment happened while gaming online.
- Multi-platform overlap: 41% of targets stated their most recent experience spanned more than one venue.
With roughly nine-in-ten Americans viewing online harassment as a problem (including 55% viewing it as a major problem), platform trust remains low. Fully 79% of Americans say social media companies do an only fair or poor job at addressing online harassment or bullying, while only 33% support allowing targets to sue platforms over harassment.
Sources
Published October 28, 2026. No affiliate links on this page. Facts come from the sources linked above; check them for updates.