Online harassment has been an issue long before YouTube was up and running.
In recent years, the landscape of online harassment has grown more complex and damaging. For YouTubers, who often rely on personal connection with their audience, the risks and impact are even greater. From relentless hate comments on YouTube to AI-generated deepfakes, online harassment has evolved in ways that demand creators stay informed and proactive.
YouTubers are particularly vulnerable to the mental health consequences of online harassment. Unlike many online users, creators often rely on their online presence for income, making it harder to disconnect their YouTube persona from their real lives. This means that burnout is a major issue for creators dealing with constant harassment. This highlights the need for better resources, such as access to counseling services or harassment mitigation tools.
YouTube and other platforms have made strides in tackling harassment but still have many challenges ahead. Creators have asked to see continued improvements in:
Even still, there’s more to the conversation than what platforms can do to help. At some point, creators will need more powerful ways to look after their mental health–especially if they must be online to earn an income.
To understand what creators go through, we asked the vidIQ community to share their experiences with harassment and bullying. Here’s what a few anonymous creators had to say:
“I started YouTube at the age of 13, and my first videos were very bad. However, I was good at SEO, and these videos racked up hundreds of thousands of views. People left hate comments and threatening remarks, simply because I was young and the quality of my videos was not very good. Fast-forward three years, and some of those same people continue to write hate comments. I have blocked and hidden such users, however, some have even gone to the extent to create new accounts just to annoy me.”
—Anonymous vidIQ community member
“I make video content related to schizophrenia and mental health. Over the years, most commenters support my work and celebrate my content. However, there is a slow, steady strain of commenters I must mute. Some of them are delusional people, some seem more violent or mal-intended, and some seek to confuse and torment people with lies and blame. Some are religious ‘fanatic’ types, claiming I need to ‘see it their way’ and it's a kind of cognitive harassment. They seem to do it on purpose to agitate and derail my intended conversations.”
—Anonymous vidIQ community member
“When I first started YouTube in 2018, this group of smalltime YouTubers in the same genre created a short series of them cyberbullying me and falsely reporting me on YouTube. This went on for about three months until YouTube deleted my account because of the spammed reports. About 4-5 months later, I restarted my current channel and started uploading videos with my friends for fun. Its been a while since I've seen the YouTubers who cyberbullied me for views, but from what I remember, they stopped uploading videos. Unfortunately, the ‘series’ is still up, but I've gotten past it.”
—Anonymous vidIQ community member
“My niche is very male-dominated. I have literally made videos on topics male colleagues have made, I have been called names and bullied into oblivion despite always providing valid bibliography to everything I cite. I had to eventually hold all comments on my videos by default. The commenters went from insulting my looks to questioning my heritage and origin, all stuff that has nothing to do with my niche.
Recently the alt-right must have really not liked me speaking up and supporting Black Lives Matter because rape threats have started coming in too. All those comments get blocked at the entrance, but gosh, it takes a toll to see how vehemently complete strangers can just hate me.”
—Anonymous vidIQ community member
As you probably know, creators in the vidIQ community aren’t the only victims of cyberbullying - it can happen to anyone on the web. For two creators specifically, things got so bad that they shared their harassment stories on YouTube to raise awareness.
In the video below, gamer Margaret Hemenway shares a story about how she was harassed online and the steps she took to make it stop:
And then there’s TheMysteriousMrEnter, an animation critic, who has openly shared his story of abuse as a way of helping other creators.
Remember how we said there’s a gap in research (and treatments) for cyberbullying? Well, some medical professionals are trying to fix that, and we couldn’t be happier to share their names with you.
First up is Kathryn Stamoulis, PH.D., an expert in female adolescent sexuality. She’s also president of the American Psychological Association’s Society for Media Psychology and Technology. Luckily, this organization is writing guidelines to help therapists treat victims of online abuse. Be sure to follow both Stamoulis and the APA for more updates.
The next person you might want to follow is Robin Kowalski, Ph.D. She’s a professor of psychology at Clemson University and is currently researching the effects of cyberbullying among youth and adults.
Lastly, swing by Kati Morton’s YouTube channel. She’s a licensed therapist who educates viewers on mental health and psychology topics, like this one:
To all creators out there, remember to stay safe, be positive, and always look after your mental health. Harassment and bullying may be rampant online, but help is on the way.
Lydia Sweatt is a writer who loves balancing her article/blog time indoors with a healthy dose of nature. She bikes, hikes, and identifies edible plants along the way.
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