If your child tells you they are being harassed online, your first instinct may be to make it stop as quickly as possible. You may want to delete the messages, report the social media account, or take away your child’s phone.
While those reactions are understandable, the first steps you take can have a significant impact on your child’s safety, your ability to stop the harassment, and any legal options that may be available.
Online harassment has changed dramatically over the past decade. What once consisted primarily of hurtful messages or cyberbullying now includes fake social media accounts, cyberstalking, sextortion, image-based sexual abuse, AI-generated deepfakes, and coordinated online harassment campaigns. Technology has made it easier for harmful content to spread quickly—and much harder to make it disappear.
If your child is experiencing online harassment, you are not alone. Understanding what has happened and responding thoughtfully can help protect your child’s well-being and preserve important legal options.
What Counts as Online Harassment?
Online harassment is an umbrella term that includes many different types of abusive online conduct. Some incidents violate school policies, some may violate criminal laws, and others may give rise to civil legal claims.
Examples include:
- Cyberbullying
- Cyberstalking
- Sextortion
- Image-based sexual abuse (sometimes referred to as “revenge porn”)
- AI-generated sexually explicit deepfakes
- Fake social media accounts and online impersonation
- Doxxing (publishing private information online)
- Threats or intimidation
- Nonconsensual sharing of intimate images
Unfortunately, these behaviors often overlap. A child who is the victim of a fake Instagram account may also become the target of threatening messages, sexually explicit rumors, or manipulated images shared among classmates.
Start by Talking With Your Child
Children frequently hesitate to tell their parents about online harassment.
Some worry they will lose access to their phone or social media. Others fear the harassment will become worse if they tell an adult. Some simply feel embarrassed.
If your child comes to you, try to remain calm. The goal is to gather information without making your child feel responsible for what happened.
Some questions you may want to ask include:
- What exactly happened?
- Is the harassment ongoing?
- Who appears to be involved?
- Has anyone shared intimate images or deepfakes?
- Have classmates seen the content?
- Has the harassment affected school?
These conversations may also help determine whether your child feels safe and whether immediate intervention is necessary.
Preserve Evidence Before It Disappears
One of the biggest mistakes families make is deleting harmful messages before preserving them.
While removing abusive content is important, evidence often disappears quickly. Social media posts are deleted, accounts are deactivated, and messages are unsent.
Before reporting content or requesting removal, consider preserving:
- Screenshots
- Usernames
- URLs
- Text messages
- Emails
- Social media posts
- Dates and times
- Names of witnesses
If your child later reports the conduct to the school, law enforcement, or an attorney, this information may become important.
Should You Report the Harassment to the School?
Many parents assume schools cannot respond if online harassment occurs away from campus.
That is not always the case.
When online conduct affects a student’s educational experience, schools may have obligations to investigate and respond—even if the conduct originated outside school.
For example, if classmates continue discussing the harassment during school, share sexually explicit images in group chats involving other students, or use online conduct to bully or isolate a student at school, educational institutions may need to become involved.
Parents should ask questions such as:
- Will the school investigate?
- Has the school preserved relevant evidence?
- What steps will be taken to protect my child?
- What supportive measures are available?
- How will the school prevent retaliation?
Schools cannot always stop online harassment, but they should take reports seriously and evaluate whether additional action is necessary.
When Does Title IX Apply?
Some forms of online harassment may also implicate Title IX.
Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational programs and activities receiving federal funding.
If your child becomes the target of sexually explicit deepfakes, image-based sexual abuse, online sexual harassment, or other sex-based misconduct, the school may have obligations under Title IX.
Parents are sometimes surprised to learn that conduct occurring online or away from school can still affect a student’s educational experience.
For example, if a sexually explicit deepfake begins circulating among classmates, the image itself is often only part of the problem. Students may gossip, bully, threaten, or exclude the targeted student. The student may stop participating in extracurricular activities, avoid school altogether, or experience declining academic performance.
These are exactly the kinds of consequences schools should consider when determining whether Title IX requires a response.
Should You Contact Law Enforcement?
Not every instance of online harassment requires a police report.
However, some situations should be reported immediately.
Law enforcement may become involved when online conduct includes:
- Sextortion;
- Child sexual abuse material;
- Credible threats of violence;
- Cyberstalking;
- Extortion;
- Sexual exploitation of a child; or
- Other criminal conduct.
If you believe your child is in immediate danger, contact law enforcement without delay.
What If Someone Posted Intimate Images or a Deepfake?
If someone has posted an intimate image or AI-generated deepfake of your child online, acting quickly can make a difference. Once images begin circulating, they may be copied, shared across multiple platforms, or reposted by other users, making removal more challenging over time.
Parents often begin by reporting the content directly to the platform. In some situations, the federal TAKE IT DOWN Act may provide an additional avenue for requesting removal of qualifying nonconsensual intimate images. The Federal Trade Commission also maintains TakeItDown.ftc.gov, where individuals can report covered platforms that fail to comply with the law’s removal requirements.
However, removing harmful content is not always straightforward. Images may appear on multiple websites, social media platforms, search engines, or messaging applications. Some websites respond promptly to removal requests, while others do not. Even after content is removed from one platform, copies may continue circulating elsewhere.
Depending on the circumstances, an attorney may be able to help identify where intimate images or deepfakes have been posted, send legal takedown requests, pursue removal of search results from search engines, evaluate available remedies under state and federal law, and coordinate removal efforts across multiple websites and online platforms.
At ALM Law, we also collaborate with trusted technology professionals who have extensive experience locating intimate images and other harmful online content, as well as developing innovative strategies to remove abusive content from websites that fail to respond to standard reporting or takedown requests. Combining legal advocacy with technical expertise is often more effective than relying on platform reporting tools alone, particularly when content has spread across multiple websites, search engines, or online services.
Are There Civil Legal Options?
Many parents understandably focus first on stopping the harassment. They are often surprised to learn that, depending on the circumstances, legal remedies may also be available.
Civil claims may exist for image-based sexual abuse, cyberstalking, online impersonation, defamation, or other unlawful conduct. In some cases, legal claims may also exist against individuals or entities that failed to respond appropriately after learning about ongoing abuse.
Every case is different. The available legal remedies depend on the facts, the applicable law, and the parties involved. Speaking with an attorney can help families better understand the options available in their particular situation.
The Emotional Impact on Children
Online harassment affects far more than a child’s phone or social media account.
Children who experience ongoing online abuse often struggle with anxiety, depression, embarrassment, isolation, and declining academic performance. Some stop participating in sports, clubs, or social activities because they fear continued harassment. Others become reluctant to attend school altogether.
Parents should not dismiss these reactions as typical teenage behavior. The emotional effects of online harassment can be significant, particularly when intimate images or sexually explicit content are involved.
Addressing both the emotional impact and the underlying harassment is an important part of helping children recover.
Moving Forward
The internet has created incredible opportunities for children to learn, communicate, and connect with others. Unfortunately, it has also created new opportunities for harassment and exploitation.
Parents cannot prevent every harmful interaction online. They can, however, respond in ways that protect their children and preserve their options.
Whether your child is experiencing cyberbullying, online harassment, image-based sexual abuse, sextortion, online impersonation, or AI-generated deepfakes, taking the situation seriously is the first step. Preserving evidence, working with the school when appropriate, seeking removal of harmful content, and understanding your legal rights can all play an important role in protecting your child.
No family should have to navigate these situations alone.