How to ask for help with Twitter harassment—with templates you can copy/paste

If you’re experiencing online harassment, you don’t have to deal with it alone. The potential impact on your mental health is real, whether you’re getting a high volume of reply guys in your mentions, or a few severe threats you might need to escalate to law enforcement. Your online life is your real life, no matter what people say, and you deserve to feel (and be!) safe. 

One of the best ways to protect yourself from the negative effects of online harassment is to limit your exposure to the bad stuff, and that’s where trusted supporters can help. 

If you’re a Block Party user, you have access to Helper View which allows you to delegate access to your Lockout Folder to other people so they can review Twitter mentions on your behalf. Note: this doesn’t allow them to see your DMs, or send Tweets on your behalf. It just allows them to review mentions and mute or block for you. If you’re not on a Premium plan and can’t afford to upgrade, but need to activate Helper View, send us a note at [email protected].

But isn’t it awkward to ask other people to read all the vitriol? No! If you can’t find the right words to ask, you can use some of these. 

Templates for loved ones

If they don’t know it’s happening 

Hey {Name} – 

I’m hoping you might be able to help me out with something. I'm getting a ton of harassment on Twitter right now, and it’s starting to get to me. Would you be willing to take a look at my mentions and mute or block the people who are harassing me? You'll be able to see all the potentially bad mentions so you can block on my behalf, but won’t need to actually go into Twitter at all. 

If you’re up for it, I can send you an invite to be one of my Helpers. I’d be really grateful for your help.

Thanks so much,

{Your name}

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If they do 
Hey {name},

The Twitter mob is getting worse, so I’m wondering if you might be able to help me out a bit in managing the whole situation. Would you be willing to take a look at my mentions and mute or block the people who are harassing me? You'll be able to see all the potentially bad mentions so you can block on my behalf, but won’t need to actually go into Twitter at all. 

If you’re up for it, I can send you an invite to be one of my Helpers. I’d be really grateful for your help.

Thanks so much,

{Your name}

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Templates for work

If you are receiving harassment as a result of work-related activity 

Hey security team,

Writing in to alert you that I’m currently experiencing a wave of online harassment because of {the work activity} and I’d like to request your support in managing it. It is possible others in the organization may also receive communications from my harassers. 

In addition to any recommendations you might have around how to tighten up my personal security, I’d also like to ask if someone could help review my Twitter mentions. I use a tool called Block Party which can let you see all the potentially bad mentions so you can block or mute on my behalf without directly accessing my Twitter account. 

Please let me know if you need anything else in order to proceed.

Thanks so much for your help,

{Your name}

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If you don’t need help but just want your boss (or PR, or the security team) to be aware 

Hi {Name},

I wanted to flag to you that I’m currently experiencing a wave of online harassment because of {the work activity}. It is possible others in the organization may also receive communications from my harassers. 

At this time I don’t need any additional resources or support, but I wanted to make sure that you were aware of the situation. I’ll keep you apprised if I do end up needing anything further to help manage the harassment. 

Best,

{Your name}

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If you are receiving harassment because of something unrelated to work

Hey security team,

I wanted to flag to you that I’m currently experiencing a wave of online harassment unrelated to work. Unfortunately, it is possible others in the organization may also receive communications from my harassers. I hope there will be no disruption as a result of this situation, but wanted to make sure you were aware it was ongoing.

Please let me know if you become aware of any outreach by harassers to the company that I should know about. I will let you know if I ultimately need to take legal action and have to collect related documentation of any communications to coworkers from my harassers. 

Best,

{Your name}

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Need another template that isn't included here? Send us a note at [email protected]—we're here to help.