Morally Motivated Networked Harassment as Normative Reinforcement

Marwick, Alice E.

doi:10.1177/20563051211021378

Cited by 185Hate Speech and Cyberbullying DetectionStalking, Cyberstalking, and HarassmentWorkplace Violence and Bullying

Morally Motivated Networked Harassment as Normative Reinforcement

Open access

Marwick, Alice E.·2021·Social Media + Society

DOI 10.1177/20563051211021378

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Abstract

While online harassment is recognized as a significant problem, most scholarship focuses on descriptions of harassment and its effects. We lack explanations of why people engage in online harassment beyond simple bias or dislike. This article puts forth an explanatory model where networked harassment on social media functions as a mechanism to enforce social order. Drawing from examples of networked harassment taken from qualitative interviews with people who have experienced harassment ( n = 28) and Trust & Safety workers at social platforms ( n = 9), the article builds on Brady, Crockett, and Bavel’s model of moral contagion to explore how moral outrage is used to justify networked harassment on social media. In morally motivated networked harassment, a member of a social network or online community accuses a target of violating their network’s norms, triggering moral outrage. Network members send harassing messages to the target, reinforcing their adherence to the norm and signaling network membership. Frequently, harassment results in the accused self-censoring and thus regulates speech on social media. Neither platforms nor legal regulations protect against this form of harassment. This model explains why people participate in networked harassment and suggests possible interventions to decrease its prevalence.

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Authors: Marwick, A. E.
Affiliations: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
Corresponding author: Marwick, Alice E.
ORCID: Marwick, Alice E.
Venue: Social Media + Society
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2021-04
Volume: 7
Issue: 2
ISSN: 2056-3051 (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.1177/20563051211021378
OpenAlex: W3168421002
Cited by: 185
References: 51
Citations by year: 2026: 30 · 2025: 50 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 4
FWCI: 9.28
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: gold
doi.org
Licence: cc-by
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (unspecified)
Locations: Social Media + Society (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (submittedVersion)
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
UNC Libraries
Funders: Data & Society Research Institute (Fellowship)
Institute for the Arts and Humanities at UNC Chapel Hill (Faculty Fellowship)
Topics: Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Stalking, Cyberstalking, and Harassment
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Workplace Violence and Bullying
Keywords: online harassment, moral contagion, moral outrage, social norms, social order, self-censorship, speech regulation, social networking sites, online communities

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Morally Motivated Networked Harassment as Normative Reinforcement

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