Online harassment during COVID-19: a cross-sectional analysis across 10 countries from the I-SHARE consortium

Aim: This study, wave 2 of the International Sexual Health and Reproductive Health (I-SHARE) study, aims to explore the prevalence and correlates of online harassment in 10 countries including low- and middle-income countries. Subject and methods: Data were collected through the I-SHARE-2 survey from March 2021 to July 2022, in 10 countries (N = 2860) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Overall, 30% of participants reported that they believed online harassment was happening more frequently than before COVID-19; 20% of participants reported having received unsolicited advances, 17% reported having received unsolicited obscene images or videos, and 7% reported that someone had shared a photo or video of them doing something humiliating or embarrassing without permission. This perceived increase in online harassment during the pandemic was potentially due to more online behavior amid lockdowns. A mixed-effects logistic regression revealed that people identifying as gender/sexual minority, people with worse economic situations, and people living in a country with lower gender inequality had higher odds of experiencing online harassment. Conclusion: These results align with prior research, emphasizing the vulnerability of minorities to online harassment. Our study findings have implications for the development of interventions to decrease online harassment.