Online Threats and Harassment — How the Law Treats This and What Support Exists

Online harm comes in many forms, and the words used to describe it matter — both because different words carry different legal meanings and because precision helps when describing what has happened to support services, platforms, or law enforcement.

Harassment

In English law, harassment is defined by the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 as a 'course of conduct' — meaning it must occur on at least two occasions — that the perpetrator knows or ought to know amounts to harassment. A single hostile message is not legally harassment under this Act, however distressing it may be. Repeated contact, persistent unwanted communications, coordinated campaigns, and sustained abusive behaviour across multiple incidents can all qualify.

The everyday use of 'harassment' is broader than its legal meaning, and people often use it to describe a single serious incident. This gap between common usage and legal definition matters when considering what offences might apply.

Threats

A threat is a communication that causes a person to fear that violence or harm will be carried out against them. Threats can be direct (explicit statements of intent to harm) or implied (communications that, in context, a reasonable person would interpret as threatening). UK law addresses threats through several instruments, including the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (stalking involving fear of violence), the Malicious Communications Act 1988, section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, and more recently the Online Safety Act 2023.

In the United States, the constitutional boundary between criminalised threats and protected speech under the First Amendment has been the subject of significant litigation. The Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Counterman v. Colorado (600 U.S. 66) established that the state must prove the defendant had at least a reckless subjective understanding that their communications would be seen as threatening — an objective 'reasonable person' standard alone is insufficient.

Stalking

Stalking is a pattern of repeated, unwanted behaviour that causes fear, alarm, or distress. It is distinct from harassment in that it involves monitoring, surveillance, or following — whether physically or digitally. Under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, as amended by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, specific stalking offences were introduced at sections 2A and 4A. Stalking involving fear of violence or serious alarm carries a maximum of ten years' imprisonment on indictment. Online stalking — monitoring someone's internet use, email, or social media accounts — is explicitly listed as a form of stalking behaviour in the legislation.

Doxxing

Doxxing (from 'dox', a shortened form of 'documents') refers to the researching and publishing of private or personally identifying information about an individual online without their consent, typically with the intent to expose them to harassment, threats, or real-world harm. This can include home addresses, workplace information, phone numbers, family members' details, or historical private information. Doxxing is not a standalone criminal offence in UK law, but the act can constitute harassment, stalking, or malicious communication offences depending on circumstances and context. In the US, doxxing similarly falls within existing harassment, stalking, or cyberstalking statutes in many states rather than a dedicated doxxing law.