Trolling is the posting of negative and destructive comments on social media / the Internet with the purpose of creating arguments, discord or to negatively impact a debate. For some, the intention is to deliberately provoke a response, whereas for others, this may be their particular style of communication. However, it is perceived by those on the receiving end as super-critical or as an ‘attack’. This type of feedback is darker in its message and intent compared with constructive criticism.

Doxing (or doxxing) is the malicious sharing of documents or personal information online or on social media about a person with malicious intent: to cause embarrassment, to damage their reputation or to exert leverage. Examples include: sharing a professional’s home address, phone number, personal information about a professional and/or their family member, or posting private photos (home, children, school).

Cyberbullying means “Tormenting, humiliating, and/or threatening someone using online or mobile communication technologies” (Chandler and Munday, 2016, p. 1).

The right to be forgotten (the right to erasure under article 17 of the GDPR), is the right to ask a data controller to have information about you (data) erased under certain conditions. Click here to find out what these grounds are. 

A defamatory statement “means a statement that tends to injure a person’s reputation in the eyes of reasonable members of society, and “defamatory” shall be construed accordingly” (Defamation Act 2009, revised December 2020).

’Cancel culture’ is the “practice of excluding somebody from social or professional life by refusing to communicate with them online or in real life, because they have said or done something that other people do not agree with” (Oxford Dictionary).

The Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 (Coco’s Law) in addition to dealing with the publication of non-consensual intimate images, also amends the law relating to harassment. Under Section 4 - “distributing, publishing or sending threatening or grossly offensive communication” - a person could be found guilty, if

“(a) by any means,

(i) distributes or publishes any threatening or grossly offensive communication about another person, or
(ii) sends any threatening or grossly offensive communication to another person, and

(b) with intent by so distributing, publishing or sending to cause harm”.

Click for a comprehensive Dictionary of Social Media

Source: Burns et al. (2021) - scroll down the webpage to download the full guide

Practitioners and managers in our study identified the following items of a good response. 

Study participants noted that managers do not need to be social media experts to support a staff member effectively. Study participants highlighted the following responses:   

Awareness & Training

• Consider the training needs for all staff in your department regarding online and social media safety.
• Ensure that you and staff are aware of, and have read, the agency's social media policy.

Practical & Emotional Support

• Reach out to the staff member to ask if they are okay, if they require support, and to acknowledge what has happened. Ask: How are you feeling? How can I help? How can I / the team / the organisation help and support you? Do you and your family feel safe? What do you as the supervisor and the team member need?
• Affirm to the staff member that what is happening is a workplace issue.
• Convey that the organisation "has their back”. Study participants felt let down when they felt that they had to deal with the issue on their own.
• Maintain an empathetic approach.
• Advocate on behalf of the worker in cases where the agency may need to make representations with the worker to a social media platform, legal department, court, and/or An Garda Síochána. Sometimes an agency’s representation may be more effective compared with an individual response.
• Facilitate access to legal support, where necessary (for example, takedown requests).

Documenting & Reporting

• Do not burden the staff member who is experiencing abuse/harassment with collecting incident evidence. Practitioners and managers in the study found it stressful when they were asked to scour social media/websites themselves to copy links, to monitor Facebook groups, to download and /or transcribe videos of concern. They felt that this was a) upsetting to read the content, and b) they felt that it was a significant extra burden on top of their existing workload.
• Document incidents and report within the organisation.
• Support the staff member with the undertaking of a risk assessment (personal, family, team).
• Relevant information to be shared by managers with team members: this can help with peer support and wider safety of staff on the team. Not all staff wanted this done due to the sensitivity of the case. Check with the staff member to clarify if they would find this helpful.

Support resources

Complete the self-assessment and action tool available on the downloads below to guide further action, and read the guide and infographics. We have also put together a comprehensive set of resources for further reading - click here.