Repeated online attacks can cause distress and serious reputational damage, particularly where false allegations are published across social media, websites, forums or direct communications.
Nath Solicitors is a boutique London law firm advising individuals, professionals, directors and business owners where online harassment arises in connection with defamation or reputation harm. We also advise businesses affected by online campaigns targeting the company, its reputation or individuals connected with it.
If you are facing a sustained online campaign involving damaging publications, call 020 3983 8278 or complete our online contact form to discuss your position.
Please note: Nath Solicitors does not act in standalone harassment matters. We advise where harassment forms part of, or is closely connected with, a substantive defamation or reputation dispute.
Online harassment can involve repeated posts, videos, reviews, messages, emails or communications to employers, customers and professional contacts. In some cases, several accounts or platforms are used as part of the same campaign.
The legal response may need to address both the repeated conduct and the reputational damage caused by individual publications.
What is online harassment?
The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 prohibits a person from pursuing a course of conduct that amounts to harassment where they know, or ought to know, that it amounts to harassment.
Harassment can include conduct which alarms a person or causes distress.
For conduct directed at one person, a course of conduct will generally require behaviour on at least two occasions.
Two incidents may satisfy the minimum requirement for a course of conduct, but that does not automatically mean the conduct legally amounts to harassment. The nature, frequency, seriousness and context of the behaviour must also be considered.
Online harassment connected with reputation harm may involve:
- repeated defamatory social media posts;
- sustained publication of false allegations;
- repeated emails or direct messages;
- campaigns directed at an employer or customers;
- accounts created primarily to attack a person or professional reputation;
- encouraging other people to join an online campaign;
- publication across several platforms;
- impersonation or fake accounts;
- repeated reviews intended to damage reputation; or
- publication of personal information alongside defamatory allegations.
What is the difference between online harassment and defamation?
Harassment and defamation are separate legal claims.
A defamation claim focuses on statements published to other people which cause, or are likely to cause, serious harm to reputation where the legal requirements are met.
A harassment claim focuses on a course of conduct.
A single defamatory publication may potentially support a defamation claim without amounting to harassment. Repeated publications or communications may form part of harassment where the statutory requirements are satisfied.
The same online campaign can therefore raise different causes of action based on different aspects of the conduct.
For wider guidance on serious harm, potential defences and remedies, see our Defamation, Reputation Management and Privacy page.
What will an online harassment and defamation solicitor assess?
Where repeated online conduct appears to form part of a wider reputation attack, we assess the campaign as a whole rather than considering each publication in isolation.
Depending on the circumstances, this may include:
- the complete chronology of events;
- the number and frequency of incidents;
- the exact publications or allegations;
- whether the same person appears responsible for different accounts or communications;
- direct messages, emails or other unwanted contact;
- communications with employers, customers, family members or professional contacts;
- whether the conduct has caused alarm or distress;
- evidence of serious reputational harm;
- commercial consequences where a business is also affected;
- anonymous or impersonation accounts;
- privacy or confidentiality issues;
- whether urgent civil relief should be considered; and
- the practical result the client wants to achieve.
The appropriate response should reflect both the legal position and the wider reputation strategy.
Can repeated online publications amount to harassment?
Potentially.
Online publications can form part of the course of conduct relied upon in a harassment claim.
The Pre-Action Protocol for Media and Communications Claims expressly covers harassment where publication forms part of the alleged course of conduct.
Where harassment by publication is alleged, the relevant publications and overall course of conduct should be identified, together with the basis on which the conduct is said to have caused, or be likely to cause, alarm or distress.
This makes it important to preserve the wider campaign rather than retaining only isolated screenshots without context.
Can a business bring an online harassment claim?
The legal position requires careful distinction.
For the purposes of harassment of a person under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, the person being harassed is an individual.
A company may nevertheless be affected by the same online campaign through defamatory statements, false reviews or other attacks on its commercial reputation, while directors, employees or other individuals connected with the business may themselves be subjected to repeated conduct.
The available claims therefore need to be separated according to who has been targeted and what harm has been suffered.
Where a trading company brings a defamation claim, the serious harm requirement includes actual or likely serious financial loss.
For wider business reputation issues, see our Commercial Reputation and Business Defamation page.
How can Nath Solicitors help with online harassment and defamation?
Where harassment forms part of a reputation dispute, our work may include:
- reviewing posts, videos, messages and communications;
- preparing a chronology of repeated conduct;
- assessing whether the statutory harassment test may be met;
- assessing defamatory publications within the campaign;
- identifying connected privacy or confidentiality issues;
- sending legal correspondence requiring harmful conduct to stop;
- seeking removal of defamatory material;
- seeking undertakings against further publication or contact;
- considering injunctions;
- pursuing civil harassment or defamation claims where appropriate; and
- negotiating a resolution without trial where this meets the client’s objectives.
Nath Solicitors acts for both people bringing claims and clients responding to allegations of harassment and defamation.
Can I get an injunction to stop online harassment?
Potentially.
Section 3 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 provides a civil remedy for an actual or anticipated breach of the statutory prohibition on harassment.
Where the legal requirements are established, the High Court or County Court can grant an injunction restraining conduct amounting to harassment.
This can be relevant where an online campaign is continuing and further publications, messages or contact are expected.
An injunction is not automatic. The evidence, seriousness of the conduct and legal basis for relief require careful assessment.
Where the issue instead concerns a threatened defamatory publication before an existing course of harassment has developed, different legal considerations may apply. See our Pre-Publication and Post-Publication Defamation page.
Can you claim damages for online harassment?
Potentially.
Section 3 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 permits damages in a successful civil harassment claim, including for anxiety caused by the harassment and financial loss resulting from it.
Where defamatory publications also form part of the campaign, separate remedies may arise under defamation law.
The appropriate causes of action should be selected according to the facts rather than assuming that every online dispute supports both claims.
Anonymous online harassment
Some campaigns are conducted through anonymous usernames, fake profiles or accounts created specifically to publish damaging allegations.
An unidentified publisher can make the situation more difficult, but anonymity does not automatically prevent legal action.
The initial assessment may involve preserving profile and publication information, examining evidence already available about the account and considering realistic options for identifying the person responsible.
Our Anonymous Posts and Online Attacks page covers anonymous reputation attacks in greater detail.
Harassment across social media platforms
A campaign may begin on one platform and spread to others.
We advise on reputation disputes involving Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit, WhatsApp, Telegram, review websites and online forums.
Screenshots and reposts can allow allegations to continue circulating even after the original material has been removed.
Our Social Media Defamation and Reputation Recovery page covers platform-led reputation disputes in greater detail.
What should you do if you are being harassed and defamed online?
1. Preserve the complete course of conduct
Save each relevant post, message, email, video or review.
Record the date, time, URL, username and platform. Keep surrounding conversations where they provide important context.
2. Create a chronology
List incidents in date order.
Include publications, direct messages, third-party contact and new accounts created during the campaign. A clear chronology can help show how apparently separate incidents fit together.
3. Record contact with third parties
Preserve evidence where allegations have been sent to employers, customers, colleagues, family members or professional contacts.
Ask recipients to retain the original communications where they are willing to do so.
4. Preserve evidence of reputational impact
Keep messages from people who have seen the allegations and records showing professional or commercial consequences.
Where a campaign also affects a business, preserve evidence of lost enquiries, contracts, customer concerns or other commercial harm.
5. Avoid unnecessary public exchanges
Repeated public responses can extend the dispute and expose damaging allegations to a larger audience.
Preserve the evidence before deciding whether direct contact or a public response is appropriate.
6. Seek urgent help where safety is involved
Civil defamation and harassment proceedings are separate from police action.
Call 999 where someone is in immediate danger, violence is being used or threatened, or a serious offence is in progress. Non-emergency matters can be reported through the police on 101 or the appropriate online reporting service.
7. Obtain legal advice on the whole campaign
A solicitor can assess the publications, repeated conduct and desired outcome before recommending the appropriate civil response.
Our guide on What to Do If You Are Being Defamed explains evidence preservation across different online platforms.
Online harassment involving threats or stalking behaviour
Some cases extend beyond repeated online publication.
Threats, persistent monitoring, attempts to contact someone through numerous channels or demands backed by threats to damage reputation may raise additional legal or criminal issues.
Our Blackmail, Stalking and Harassment Linked to Defamation page covers mixed conduct of this kind.
Nath Solicitors does not provide standalone stalking, criminal harassment or blackmail services.
Responding to allegations of online harassment
Nath Solicitors also advises clients who receive civil allegations of harassment and defamation where there is a substantial reputation element.
An allegation does not establish liability.
The alleged course of conduct, individual publications, surrounding context and available defences should be reviewed before a substantive response is made.
The Protection from Harassment Act provides statutory defences in defined circumstances, including where conduct was pursued for preventing or detecting crime, was authorised by law or was reasonable in the particular circumstances.
Legitimate criticism, regulatory reporting, journalism or persistent disagreement should not automatically be labelled harassment simply because it is unwelcome. Whether conduct crosses the legal threshold depends on the whole course of conduct and its context.
Where allegations arise from whistleblowing, regulatory communication or another potentially protected activity, those issues may also need careful consideration.
Our experience in online harassment and defamation disputes
Nath Solicitors has more than 30 years of litigation and advisory experience, with Director Shubha Nath overseeing major reputation matters.
Our published work includes acting for a church facing repeated false allegations through Facebook and a website. Nath Solicitors intervened and sought undertakings, bringing the harmful conduct to an end.
We represented a diamond art company facing a campaign involving Facebook, YouTube and a private Facebook group created to damage the company’s reputation. The matter concluded with deletion of the defamatory material and removal of the group.
In another published matter, an aesthetics practitioner was targeted through allegations of copying and plagiarism on Instagram. Legal intervention resulted in removal of the publications and an apology.
Our wider practice includes repeated online publications, anonymous accounts, third-party contact, threatened publication and coordinated reputation campaigns.
We act for both claimants and respondents where civil harassment and defamation issues overlap.
Read further examples in our Defamation Case Studies page.
Why clients instruct Nath Solicitors
Clients instruct Nath Solicitors in qualifying online harassment and reputation disputes because we offer:
- more than 30 years of litigation and advisory experience;
- experience in defamation and harassment-by-publication disputes;
- published outcomes involving removal and undertakings;
- experience acting for both claimants and respondents;
- experience with social media and multi-platform reputation disputes;
- direct access to senior lawyers; and
- the reassurance of instructing an SRA-regulated boutique London law firm.
Our approach is to assess the complete campaign rather than treating every post, message or publication in isolation.
Contact Our Online Harassment & Defamation Solicitors in London
A sustained online campaign can cause both personal distress and serious reputational damage. Addressing the complete course of conduct may be more effective than responding to each publication separately.
Nath Solicitors advises individuals, professionals, directors and business owners where online harassment forms part of a defamation or reputation dispute. We also advise businesses affected by connected reputation attacks.
We do not act in standalone harassment matters.
To discuss a qualifying matter confidentially, call 020 3983 8278 or complete our online contact form.
This page contains general information about the law in England and Wales. It does not constitute legal advice in relation to any particular matter.
Reviewed by Shubha Nath, Solicitor and Director
Last reviewed: October 2026
Nath Solicitors Limited is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. SRA number 608014.