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How should journalists prepare for online pile-on attacks?
Bellamy-Walker: One lesson that journalists should know is preparing for online harassment before it happens. Online pile-on attacks are now part of reporting; making pre-assessment planning and digital security essential not only to protect yourself but also sources and your work.
If you’re working on a story about a hateful group, and this hateful group has a fan club or some sort of club that’s associated with them online, that’s something that you can find during your pre-assessment planning and your research process, so that if something does happen, you are prepared.
Preparation should begin long before an attack occurs online. Understanding your digital footprint, assessing potential risks, and having a response plan in place can help journalists react more effectively and reduce the impact of coordinated online pile-on attacks.
How can journalists recognize a pile-on attack is happening?
Bellamy-Walker: If you are experiencing a pile-on or a cyber-mob attack, you might see that you’re being tagged repeatedly by different users in your mentions. You may also see that you’re being tagged in photos on a platform where photo tagging is not common. You may see that a bad actor has taken a screenshot of your story and then posted that screenshot to a social media page.
Maybe this bad actor normally has a large following and a lot of influence, and then it can go far based on their following and influence. And usually that post will misrepresent the reporter’s story.
If you’re covering extremism, politics, religious minorities, or sensitive topics that often can attract a lot of contention, that’s one cause of it. Another cause is someone’s identity. People are attacked based on who they are and what they look like. And then another cause from the person spewing hateful remarks online is to censor the reporter.
What steps should journalists take to protect themselves when online attacks begin?
Bellamy-Walker: First, I would recommend that journalists check in with themselves. Take a couple of moments to center yourself and acknowledge the tough feelings that come up with online violence and harassment.
I would also recommend reaching out to your community of support. If you’re experiencing a high volume of vitriol online, I would not want the reporter to do this all by themselves. Bring along a peer, a friend, a colleague, or even your editor. That person can be a listening ear, but they can also help the reporter assess their sense of physical safety.
I would recommend that the journalist document the abuse, then report the abuse. It’s important to document first, especially if you want to seek legal action later.
If this is happening on your public work page, go private, take a break from social media, and let someone monitor your accounts.
How can journalists best respond to an attack?
Bellamy-Walker: In the digital safety space, we talk a lot about counter speech. It is a way that we can defend ourselves and our work online, and we can do that by sticking to our journalistic principles.
If someone is spewing something hateful to you, you may choose to respond to your online troll or online abuser by fact-checking a false claim. If you are being impersonated online, you may want to correct the narrative that is coming up about you as a reporter for a specific news outlet.
Someone may choose not to engage because it may actually increase the harassment that they are experiencing. They may be a target of a bot army or a bunch of computers, and it doesn’t make sense to fight with computers online.
You may also choose to respond or engage because you want to condemn hate and bigotry. That being said, some folks do not want to speak out, and that’s also totally fine.
You may also find that you’re not actually ready. There is the psychological toll or stress of confronting the people that are abusing you.
What are the red flags that indicate an online attack has become an offline safety threat?
Bellamy-Walker: I would say definitely if they’re being named in direct, specific threats. Someone saying, ‘I hate Tat,’ is different from ‘I will hit Tat at Whole Foods at 3 p.m.’ That’s direct. That’s specific.
I’d also be worried if the online violence moves offline. It starts online, but then you’re getting threatening voicemails or physical mail. That might be a clue that maybe the folks have found your personal cell phone number or home address and that you’re being doxxed.
I would also be concerned if online harassment has become a professional liability. For example, if during this cyber-mob pile-on attack, folks are sharing non-consensual intimate images of you, that is a big professional liability.
What digital security steps should journalists take before they become a target?
Bellamy-Walker: We want to think about removing personal information from our online accounts. Remove your home address, your phone number, and photos of your families. Hide your friends and family list on Facebook or other sites that show that information. I would also hide your birthday and details about your hometown.
We may forget about the archive of information we have online. That’s when I would recommend using tools that can help you batch delete old tweets or clean up your social media footprint.
Practice password hygiene. Use long, complex passwords that are at least 12 or 16 or more characters and are unique to each account. Save those passwords in a password manager. And then turn on two-factor authentication on as many accounts as possible.
I would also recommend folks to use tools like Cyd Social and Tweet Deleter. These are tools that can help you batch delete old tweets. You can also use a tool like Block Party that can help you clean up your social media footprint. Facebook has a very cool tool called Manage Activity Tool where you can batch delete old Facebook posts.
What should journalists know to help recover after an online attack?
Bellamy-Walker: Online abusers, like many abusers, want to make us feel alone and isolated. That’s why it’s so important to tap into your community of support.
I recommend building a small peer support group of three to five trusted people, with each person taking on a different role, whether that’s providing emotional support, offering a safe place to stay if you’re doxxed, or monitoring your social media accounts.
Journalists should also seek mental health support when they need it. At the IWMF, our U.S. Emergency Fund provides grants that can help journalists access mental health care. I also recommend the Journalist Trauma Support Network, which connects journalists with therapists trained to work with people in our profession.
For freelancers, it’s important to know that you’re not alone. Organizations such as the International Women’s Media Foundation offer one-on-one safety consultations, a guide on protecting freelancers, and training. Our U.S. Journalist Assistance Network partners also offer resources from legal to digital security.
Professional associations and groups like the ACOS Alliance also provide safety guidance and access to tools that help protect journalists from threats such as doxxing.
Finally, connecting with colleagues through regular peer groups or safety training can make a real difference. Recovery isn’t just about getting through an attack — it’s about building a strong support system before and after it happens.
Key tips
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Utilize helpful resources: Many organizations are available to offer training, guides, consultations, and more for journalists who are under attack.
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Assess your personal risk: Perform thorough pre-assessment planning and background research on actors that could target you online.
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Consider how, or if, you respond: Not all attacks need to be responded to. Consider how responding can affect your emotional well-being.
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Go private: If attacks target a public work account, consider temporarily locking profiles or taking a social media break.
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Lean on your support network: Rely on a trusted colleague or friend to help evaluate threats, ensure physical safety, and check in after an attack occurs.
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Know when an attack poses physical danger: Doxxing or direct threats are signs that an attack has morphed from an online threat to a physical security risk.
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