Online
What to write down when someone is harassing you online
With online harassment, the record is a full screenshot of each message showing the account, the platform and the timestamp, captured before anything is blocked, reported or deleted — because a blocked account's messages usually stop being visible to the person who received them.
This page won't say whether anything crossed a line, what can be done about it, or what to do next. Those are decisions for you, and for someone qualified to advise you.
What it does is describe how to keep a record while the material still exists. That part is the same wherever you are, and it is the part that becomes impossible later.
If you are in immediate danger right now, this page isn't the thing you need. It is a page about keeping a record, and that is all it is.
Write it down
The things to note, in your own words, while they are still exact.
- 01
The account: handle, display name and profile link
All three, because all three change. A handle on its own stops identifying anything the day it is edited.
- 02
Which platform, and where in it
A direct message, a comment, a story, a post. Where something appeared shapes what can be found again later.
- 03
The date and time of each message
Each one separately. Frequency and timing are visible in a list of times and invisible in a description.
- 04
Any new account that appears after a block
Noted as its own entry, with the date it first made contact. A sequence of new accounts is a different fact from a single one.
- 05
Anything you already know about who it is
Only what you already know. Nothing here asks you to go and find out, and nothing here asks you to make contact.
- 06
Every report you made, and its reference
The platform, the date, and the confirmation or case number it gave you. Reports get closed and the reference is what reopens them.
Save it while it exists
The things to capture before they are moved, cleaned, edited or deleted.
- 07
Full-screen screenshots, before blocking
Blocking usually hides the thread from you as well. Capture first — the option to do it afterwards may not exist.
- 08
The whole conversation, not just the worst message
Context is what makes a thread readable to someone who wasn't there. A single message removed from its thread raises more questions than it answers.
- 09
The profile page itself
Accounts get deleted, renamed and made private. A screenshot of the profile is often all that survives it.
- 10
Any post or comment that mentions you
Including the replies underneath. Posts are edited and deleted far more often than messages are.
- 11
The full email, with its headers, where it's email
The headers carry information the visible message doesn't, and they are lost if the message is forwarded rather than saved.
- 12
A copy kept somewhere other than the phone
Whatever you use — a cloud folder, a second device, an email to yourself. One copy in one place is one accident away from none.
Prefer to do it on your phone? The same list, as an app.
Open Online Harassment→It saves to that device only, with no account and nothing sent anywhere. A new phone, a cleared browser or a lost handset loses everything in it. Export what matters and keep a copy somewhere else.
Reviewed September 12, 2026 · no statute cited · education on documenting, not legal advice