Internet Activities

Americans agree that certain behaviors constitute online harassment, but they are more divided on others. Report: Crossing the Line: What Counts as Online Harassment?

Americans agree that certain behaviors – like direct personal threats – constitute online harassment. But they are more divided on others, such as sending unkind messages or publicly sharing a private conversation.

In the past year, Pew Research Center has explored a range of tech-related topics in the news – from online harassment to fake news to net neutrality.  Here are some key findings from our research on these and other technology issues.

Having access to the internet did not lead to more online exploration for some new internet users, and some had difficulties with the tablets.

More than half of comments submitted to the FCC on net neutrality used temporary or duplicate email addresses, and seven popular comments accounted for 38% of all submissions.

Predictions from experts about truth and misinformation online in 2027, from @pewresearch and @ImagineInternet.

Experts are split on whether the coming years will see less misinformation online. Those who foresee improvement hope for technological and societal solutions. Others say bad actors using technology can exploit human vulnerabilities.

Lee Rainie, director of internet and technology research at Pew Research Center, discussed recent findings about the prevalence and impact of online harassment at the Cyber Health and Safety Virtual Summit: 41% of American adults have been harassed online and 66% have witnessed harassment. The findings come from the Center’s recent report on these issues.

People deal in varying ways with tensions about what information to trust and how much they want to learn. Some are interested and engaged with information; others are wary and stressed.

In the U.S., four-in-ten women and roughly a quarter of adults ages 65 and older say they play video games at least sometimes.