Schoenebeck: Social media platforms need to tamp down harassment of scientists

While harassment is nothing new for scientists, a new survey has uncovered that the situation has gotten worse for some since the pandemic began. 

Science reports that in a new survey of more than 9500 researchers who have published studies on COVID-19, 38% reported at least one type of attack. These incidents ranged from insults to death threats and were delivered on social media, email, phone or even in person. 

Many of the researchers who received harassment noted the experience was new to them. A combination of greater exposure to public audiences, plus the rise in political polarization seems to have fueled the fire for attacks. 

The occurrences of “networked harassment,” where people who share social media networks pile onto a prominent scientist, is one possibility that explains the swarms of attacks. While not centrally coordinated by a person or organization, the platforms foster a network for people piling on. 

Science reports that online harassment issues can’t be solved by individuals. Instead, institutions and social media platforms must step up. 

Sarita Schoenebeck, associate professor of information and expert on online abuse issues, says that companies like Facebook and Twitter need to improve their moderation strategies. She notes that moderating an individual's abusive content is like playing whack-a-mole. Instead, focusing on entire communities and networks would be more effective. 

Read “In the Line of Fire” on science.org.

Learn more about associate professor Sarita Schoenebeck.