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us Personal safety & immediate danger

What to do if…
online harassment or a hostile social-media surge makes you fear in-person targeting

Produced and maintained by PanicStation.org Published: Last reviewed: Editorial policy USA guide

Short answer

Move to a safer, occupied place if it is safe to do so. Call 911 if someone is following you, attempting to enter, waiting nearby, approaching you, or making a specific threat that appears immediate; otherwise, stop sharing your location, alert someone you trust, and save the clearest evidence.

Do not do these things

  • Do not leave a secure place to investigate a person, vehicle, sound, delivery, or unexpected visitor.
  • Do not meet, confront, threaten, or try to identify the people involved in person.
  • Do not announce where you are, where you are going, or whether you are home.
  • Do not continue arguing online if it delays immediate safety steps.
  • Do not click unexpected links, attachments, login pages, or account-recovery messages.
  • Do not delete threatening messages or close an account before saving the clearest evidence, unless keeping it open creates an immediate safety risk.
  • Do not publish private information about suspected harassers or ask others to confront them.
  • Do not assume that the size of the online surge proves either that physical harm will occur or that the threats can safely be ignored.

What to do now

  1. Reach a safer pause. Go inside a locked, occupied building or to a staffed public place if you can move safely. If someone is following you, attempting entry, waiting nearby, or approaching you after a threat, call 911 and provide your location when asked.

  2. Alert one trusted person. Ask them to stay with you, remain on the phone, meet you somewhere safe, or contact building security, workplace security, campus safety, or another relevant local service.

  3. Stop real-time location exposure. End live streams, pause location sharing that is not needed for safety, remove public check-ins, and ask people with you not to tag or post your location. Do not post your destination or route.

  4. Preserve the clearest evidence. Save screenshots or recordings showing the message, account name, platform, visible date and time, and any reference to your address, workplace, family, schedule, weapon, vehicle, travel, or planned appearance. Save direct links where available, but do not delay leaving danger to document everything.

  5. Check what information has been exposed. Briefly look for your address, current location, workplace, phone number, family details, vehicle, or regular schedule. Ask a trusted person to check for you if reading the posts is overwhelming. Tell affected household members, reception staff, employers, schools, or security personnel only what they need to recognize the concern.

  6. Secure accounts that show signs of compromise. Use a trusted device and the platform’s official app or website. Protect your email account first, change passwords that were reused, sign out unfamiliar sessions, check recovery details, and enable multi-factor authentication where available.

  7. Use the appropriate reporting route. Report the account or post through the platform’s harassment, threat, impersonation, or private-information tools. Violent threats may also be reported to local law enforcement or through the FBI tip form. Cyber-enabled crime can be reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Use 911 rather than an online form for immediate danger.

  8. Reduce predictable exposure for the next few hours. Avoid unnecessary solo travel, arrange for someone else to screen unexpected visitors, and keep your phone charged and accessible. A local victim advocate can help you consider further safety steps without requiring you to make every decision now.

What can wait

You do not need to read every comment, identify every account, answer publicly, decide whether to leave social media permanently, build a complete evidence archive, change every account, move home, cancel every future plan, or choose a legal strategy now. Focus first on immediate safety, location exposure, one trusted contact, account access, and the clearest threats.

Important reassurance

The volume of hostile posts alone does not establish whether anyone intends to appear in person. Specific references to your current whereabouts, home, workplace, routine, family, vehicle, weapons, or a stated time and place are reasons to act promptly and seek help assessing the situation.

Scope note

This guide covers the earliest personal-safety, documentation, reporting, and account-protection steps only. Later decisions may require help from a victim advocate, law enforcement agency, security professional, attorney, employer, school, housing provider, or platform safety team.

Important note

This is general personal-safety and cybersecurity information, not legal advice, law-enforcement guidance, or a professional threat assessment. Reporting options, available services, and legal processes vary by state and locality. Call 911 when immediate police, fire, or medical assistance is needed.

Additional Resources

Closely connected guides that may be useful during the same situation or its immediate aftermath.

About this guide

This guide was produced and is maintained by PanicStation.org using its published editorial process. Official and specialist sources are checked where relevant, and AI-assisted tools may be used for drafting, organisation, and consistency checks. The site operator remains responsible for publication, revision, and removal decisions.

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