While online harassment is recognized as a significant problem, most scholarship focuses on descriptions of harassment and its effects. We lack explanations of why people engage in online harassment beyond simple bias or dislike. This article puts forth an explanatory model where networked harassment on social media functions as a mechanism to enforce social order. Drawing from examples of networked harassment taken from qualitative interviews with people who have experienced harassment (n = 28) and Trust & Safety workers at social platforms (n = 9), the article builds on Brady, Crockett, and Bavel’s model of moral contagion to explore how moral outrage is used to justify networked harassment on social media. In morally motivated networked harassment, a member of a social network or online community accuses a target of violating their network’s norms, triggering moral outrage. Network members send harassing messages to the target, reinforcing their adherence to the norm and signaling network membership. Frequently, harassment results in the accused self-censoring and thus regulates speech on social media. Neither platforms nor legal regulations protect against this form of harassment. This model explains why people participate in networked harassment and suggests possible interventions to decrease its prevalence.

虽然在线骚扰被认为是一个重大问题，但大多数学术研究侧重于对骚扰及其影响的描述。除了简单的偏见或不喜欢之外，我们还没有解释为什么人们会参与在线骚扰。本文提出了一个解释模型，将社交媒体上的网络骚扰作为一种强制执行社会秩序的机制。从定性访谈谁拥有经验丰富的骚扰（民，用之于民的网络骚扰实例绘制ñ  = 28）和信托与安全人员在社交平台（ñ = 9)，这篇文章建立在 Brady、Crockett 和 Bavel 的道德传染模型之上，探讨如何利用道德愤怒来证明社交媒体上的网络骚扰是合理的。在出于道德动机的网络骚扰中，社交网络或在线社区的成员指责目标违反其网络规范，从而引发道德愤怒。网络成员向目标发送骚扰信息，加强他们对规范的遵守和向网络成员发出信号。通常，骚扰会导致被告自我审查，从而规范社交媒体上的言论。平台和法律法规都没有防止这种形式的骚扰。该模型解释了人们参与网络骚扰的原因，并建议采取可能的干预措施来降低其发生率。