Cyberstalking: What It Is, How to Report It and Stay Safe

Cyberstalking is a pattern of repeated, unwanted online contact or monitoring that makes a reasonable person fear for their safety or causes serious emotional distress. If it’s happening to you, put your physical safety first, save evidence of every incident, report the accounts to the platforms involved, and report the behavior to local police. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 (or your local emergency number) before doing anything else.

This guide explains what counts as cyberstalking, how to document it so reports are taken seriously, how to report cyberstalking to platforms and law enforcement, and how to reduce what a stalker can find about you. For hotlines and support organizations, see our help resources page.

What counts as cyberstalking

There is no single definition that applies everywhere, but most laws and support organizations describe the same core idea: a course of conduct, not a single rude message, that is directed at a specific person and causes fear or substantial distress.

Common forms include:

• Repeated unwanted messages across email, text, social media or messaging apps, often continuing after you’ve asked them to stop or blocked them.
• New accounts to get around blocks, sometimes dozens of them.
• Monitoring your location or activity, through tracking apps, shared accounts, location tags in your posts, or hidden devices such as Bluetooth trackers.
• Contacting people around you: your employer, family, friends or clients, often with false claims about you.
• Posting your personal information, such as your home address or workplace (doxxing), or encouraging others to contact or harass you.
• Threats, direct or implied, including references to where you are or what you’re doing.
• Impersonation, such as fake profiles in your name used to embarrass you or contact people you know.

Cyberstalking often overlaps with offline stalking. Many people who are stalked online are also followed, watched or contacted in person, and often by someone they know, such as a former partner. That overlap is why safety planning matters as much as the online steps.

Is cyberstalking a crime?

In the US, yes, in many circumstances. The federal stalking statute (18 U.S.C. § 2261A) covers stalking that uses the mail, the internet or other electronic communication to cause substantial emotional distress or place someone in reasonable fear of harm. Every state also has stalking laws, and most explicitly cover electronic communication or have separate harassment and cyberstalking statutes.

The details, such as how many incidents count as a “course of conduct” and what level of fear or distress must be shown, differ by state. Whether a specific situation meets the legal threshold is a question for police, a prosecutor or a lawyer. You don’t need to be sure it’s a crime before you report it; documenting and reporting early helps either way.

Outside the US, most countries have harassment or stalking laws that apply online. In the UK, for example, stalking is a specific offense. Check with local police or a victim support organization where you live.

Step 1: Make a safety plan

If the person knows where you live or work, has threatened you, or has a history of violence, treat this as a safety situation first and an online problem second.

1. Call 911 if you are in immediate danger or receive a specific threat.
2. Talk to an advocate. Domestic violence and victim support hotlines help with safety planning, including for stalking by a current or former partner. Our help resources page lists support organizations.
3. Tell people you trust, including your workplace security or manager if the person has contacted your employer, so they know not to share your schedule or location.
4. Vary routines that are visible online, such as regular check-ins at the same gym or coffee shop.

Step 2: Document everything

Good evidence is the difference between a report that goes nowhere and one that leads to action. Platforms, police and courts all need to see the pattern, not just the latest message.

• Screenshot each message, post or comment with the date, time and the sender’s username or profile URL visible.
• Save the URL of each post and profile, not just a screenshot. Profiles get deleted and renamed.
• Keep original emails and texts. Don’t delete them, even if they’re upsetting. You can move them to a separate folder.
• Keep a log: a simple document or spreadsheet with the date, time, platform, what happened, and any report reference numbers.
• Record offline incidents too, such as someone showing up at your home or work, with dates and any witnesses.
• Back up your evidence somewhere the stalker can’t access, such as a new account with a password they couldn’t guess.

If reviewing the messages is distressing, ask a trusted friend to help capture and log them for you.

Step 3: How to report cyberstalking

Report to more than one place. Each has different powers, and a record in several places strengthens your case.

Where	What they can do	How to report
The platform (Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok, Snapchat, etc.)	Remove content, suspend accounts, and act on accounts created to get around blocks	Use the in-app report option on the profile or message and choose harassment, threats or impersonation. Report each account and each serious post.
Your email or phone provider	Block senders and numbers, and in some cases act on abusive accounts	Use the provider’s abuse reporting and blocking tools
Local police	Investigate, contact the person, and pursue charges under state law	File a report in person or through the non-emergency line. Bring your log and evidence and ask for a report number.
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)	Collects complaints about internet crime and can refer them to law enforcement	File online at ic3.gov, especially if the person is in another state or country
Your employer or school	Security measures, and action if the person is a coworker or student	Go to HR, security or the school’s Title IX or student conduct office

If a police report stalls, ask whether there is a detective or unit that handles stalking, domestic violence or cybercrime. A victim advocate can also help you communicate with police and prosecutors.

Protective orders

Most states let you ask a court for a protective order (sometimes called a restraining order, stalking order or civil harassment order) that bans the person from contacting you, including online. Violating it can lead to arrest. The process and eligibility vary by state, and many courts have self-help centers or advocates who help people file. A lawyer can advise on your options.

Step 4: Secure your accounts and devices

Stalkers sometimes know things they shouldn’t because they have access to an account or device. Check for that quietly, and if you’re in a situation where the person might notice changes, talk to an advocate before making them.

1. Change passwords on your email, phone account, cloud storage and social media, starting with email. Use a password manager and a unique password for each.
2. Turn on two-factor authentication, ideally with an authenticator app or security key rather than text messages.
3. Review logged-in devices and sessions in each account’s security settings and sign out of anything you don’t recognize.
4. Check location sharing in your phone’s settings, maps apps, family-sharing plans and social apps.
5. Look for unknown apps on your phone, especially ones with access to location, messages or the microphone. If you suspect stalkerware, an advocate or a trusted tech professional can help, since removing it can alert the person installing it.
6. Check for physical trackers. Both iPhone and Android phones can alert you to unknown Bluetooth trackers traveling with you. Check your car and bags if you get an alert.
7. Review shared accounts such as streaming services, smart home devices, and shared photo albums.

Step 5: Reduce what can be found about you

Much of the information stalkers use is publicly available. You can’t erase all of it, but you can make it much harder to find.

• Lock down social profiles: make accounts private, remove your workplace, city and school, and turn off location tagging.
• Remove old posts that reveal your address, routines or family members. Our guide on deleting old social media posts covers how.
• Opt out of people-search sites, which publish home addresses and phone numbers. See how to remove yourself from people search sites.
• Use Google’s removal tools. Google’s “Results about you” lets you request removal of search results showing your contact details such as your home address and phone number, and Google has a separate route for doxxing content.
• Ask about address confidentiality. Many states run address confidentiality programs for survivors of stalking and domestic violence, which provide a substitute address for public records.

If your address or phone number has already been posted publicly, our guide on what to do if you’ve been doxxed goes into more detail.

A worked example

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real case. A graphic designer ends a relationship. Over the next month her ex sends dozens of messages from new Instagram accounts after each block, emails two of her clients claiming she steals work, and comments on her posts about where she was that weekend.

1. Safety: she calls a domestic violence hotline, which helps her make a safety plan and explains protective orders in her state.
2. Evidence: a friend screenshots every message and new account with URLs and dates into a shared log.
3. Platform reports: she reports each account to Instagram for harassment and ban evasion, and makes her profile private.
4. Clients: she sends a short, calm note to the two clients: someone is sending false messages about her, and she’s dealing with it through the proper channels.
5. Police: she files a report with her log and gets a report number, then applies for a protective order.
6. Devices: she finds her ex still has access to an old shared cloud account, changes the password and removes his device.

None of this promises a fast outcome, but each step either reduces her risk or builds the record she needs.

What not to do

• Don’t engage or retaliate. Replies often encourage the person, and anything you say can be used to muddy the story.
• Don’t delete evidence, even to feel better. Archive it instead.
• Don’t hack back or try to unmask the person through tricks. It can be illegal and can compromise a case.
• Don’t pay anyone who promises to “make it stop” or “trace the stalker” for a fee. Scammers target people in distress.
• Don’t carry it alone. Tell trusted people and use professional support.

Cleaning up the reputation damage

Cyberstalking often leaves a trail: false posts about you, fake review profiles, or pages that rank for your name. Once your safety is handled, some of this can be removed through platform policies or legal routes, and the rest can be outweighed with accurate content. Our personal reputation management service helps with search results and removal requests, and we work alongside, not instead of, police and advocates.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between cyberstalking and online harassment?

The terms overlap. Online harassment covers a wide range of abusive behavior, while cyberstalking usually means a sustained pattern aimed at one person that causes fear for their safety or serious distress, often including monitoring or threats. Our guide on what to do about online harassment covers the broader situation.

Can police do anything if I don't know who the stalker is?

Often, yes. With proper legal process, law enforcement can ask platforms and providers for account information that may identify the person. That is one more reason to keep complete evidence, including usernames, URLs and dates.

How many messages count as cyberstalking?

There is no single number. Most laws require a course of conduct, meaning more than one incident, that causes fear or substantial distress. Police, a prosecutor or a lawyer can say whether a specific situation meets your state’s definition.

Should I close my social media accounts?

Not necessarily. Making accounts private, removing personal details and blocking the person is often enough, and an active account can help you keep evidence. If an account is a constant source of contact, deactivating it temporarily is a reasonable choice.

Can I get cyberstalking content removed from Google?

Some of it. Google has routes for doxxing content, personal contact information and certain other harmful material, and content removed from the original site will eventually drop out of search. Report to the platform hosting the content first.