【Nanda van Bergen】

A new survey indicates that social media is Nanda van Bergenan even stinkier cesspool than we previously thought.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released the results of a survey Wednesday that found that over half of all Americans had experienced harassment online, and one in three Americans had experienced "severe" online harassment. The ADL defines severe harassment as behavior that includes "physical threats, sexual harassment, stalking and sustained harassment."

SEE ALSO: A survival guide for being a woman on the internet

These results could indicate an increase in the amount of harassment occurring online over time. Pew conducted a similar survey in 2017, and found that 41 percent of Americans had experienced harassment, and 18 percent have been victims of severe harassment. So in a year in which tech companies collectively increased their responses to combatting hate online, the experience of harassment appears to have also increased.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The survey was conducted during December 2018, sampling 1,134 individuals in total. To get a representative experience from people in protected groups, such as race, religion, disability, or sexual orientation, it sampled at least 100 people from these groups, and weighted their response to be proportional to the population they represent.

The inclusion of those voices was important because the survey found that being part of a protected class was the reason 32 percent of people were harassed.

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Harassment took place across most social media platforms, but Facebook came away as the place where most people experienced this behavior. Of people who had experienced harassment, 56 percent say it happened on Facebook. The next largest platform was Twitter, at 19 percent.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The survey also looked at where people who are regular users of online platforms experience hate. Interestingly, daily users of Twitch experienced the most harassment on that platform, at 47 percent. Reddit came in second: 38 percent of people who sign on to Reddit every day have experienced harassment there.

Respondents concluded that social media companies need to do more to comprehensively stem the tide of hate on their platforms; an overwhelming majority — 84 percent — want to see better tools for stopping harassment online. A popular suggestion was to publicly ban problematic users, filter hateful speech, and flag bots (a solution that is unlikely).

But Americans also want to see action taken at the legislative level. Whether or not respondents had experienced harassment, over 80 percent want the government to take legislative and punitive action against the perpetrators of hate online, and the platforms that host them.

Overall, the survey suggests that the problem of harassment online is widespread, and the actions of social media companies represent a soggy, leaky bandaid over a problem affecting the people who willingly give these companies or time, attention, and data.

---

Featured Video For You

---

82 women walked this year's Cannes red carpet in protest, calling for gender equality in the film industry

---

• Digital Culture
• Tech
• Social Good
• Shopping
• Games
• Deals
• Science
• Entertainment

• Inside the Murky Process of Getting Games on Steam
• New Samsung Galaxy Fold teardown reveals a much
• Here's a Halloween playlist for all your spooky music needs
• Coinbase (finally) launches mobile app for pro traders
• Stablecoin bill advances in U.S. Senate as Trump critics call to end his crypto dealings
• Instagram now has dark mode. Here's how to turn it on.
• Apple's augmented reality glasses to come by mid
• Ted Cruz congratulated a woman on having multiple sclerosis. Seriously.
• 10 Tech Predictions for 2017
• 'Big Mouth' co

• Beyonce and Jay
• Google will stop websites from blocking Incognito mode
• Facebook update for Android gives more control over location settings
• Why Neil Gaiman talking at you for 5 hours from your screen is totally worth $90
• Ariana Grande snags record last held by The Beatles with top 3 hits
• Twitter opens beta program to test new conversation features
• YouTube changes 'strike' policy for first
• Leaked images might have revealed Samsung Galaxy Fold early
• Ken Bone greets Snoop Dogg in his Reddit 'Bone Zone'
• 'The Walking Dead' digs into the origins of the Whisperers

• Best robot vacuum deal: Eufy Omni C20 robot vacuum and mop at record
• Not even Donald Trump's antics can help Twitter at this point
• Google guy builds bot that earns money from Trump tweets
• Chrissy Teigen pokes fun at media coverage of her car accident
• Whale Vomit Episode 5: Startup Monarchy
• Here's a handy Mad Libs script to help you through your Congress
• 'Valfaris' is a blast of sci
• Ted Cruz congratulated a woman on having multiple sclerosis. Seriously.
• Contingent No More
• OpenLibra is an open alternative to Facebook's Libra

• Keeping Hope Alive
• Mandy Moore's parents offer unsolicited advice to her 'This Is Us' character
• Bathwater entrepreneur Belle Delphine claims she was arrested
• Trump's attack on Nordstrom over Ivanka gets the POTUS Twitter boost
• Best portable power station deal: Save 44% on the Jackery Explorer 100 v2
• Twitter has a grand old time with Trump's unfinished sentence
• This girl's bizarre bucket list can help everyone live their best life
• VSCO girls: Shield your eyes while this hydraulic press crushes a Hydro Flask
• Whale Vomit Episode 5: Startup Monarchy
• Instagram is testing Group Stories