This report, published in August 2023 by the World Economic Forum (WEF), provides a typology of online harm through the production, distribution, and consumption of online content. Online harms can arise from interactions with others (contact),
and through behaviors and practices facilitated by technology (conduct). The six categories or typologies identified by the WEF in this report are:
- Threats to Personal and Community Safety: This includes the production, distribution, and consumption of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), Child Sexual Exploitation Material (CSEM), grooming children for sexual abuse through impersonation, and the spread of pro-terror material. It also covers content that glorifies, supports, and encourages participation in violent extremist terrorist organisations and organised hate groups.
- Harm to Health and Well-being: This category involves exposure to materials related to suicide, self-harm, child sexual abuse, and eating disorders.
- Hate and Discrimination: This involves online hate speech against groups based on their racial, national, religious, ethnic, or caste identity. It also addresses how these online actions translate into discrimination through racist and gendered practices
in offline spaces and environments. - Violation of Dignity: This includes online bullying, blackmail, and threats that lead to sextortion or sexual extortion.
- Invasion of Privacy: This involves doxxing, which is the intentional online exposure of an individual’s identity, personal details, or sensitive information without their consent. It also includes image-based abuse, such as leaking, sharing, or
threatening to share an intimate image or video without the consent of the person shown. - Deception and Manipulation: This category covers various forms of online deceit and manipulation.
Methodology
This report builds on and collates material from existing literature to come up with the 6 typologies. The typology takes into account both regional and local contexts. It recognizes the complex and interconnected nature of online safety, encompassing content, contact and conduct risks. While recognizing the value of contract as a fourth “C” to reflect risks for children in relation to commercialisation and datafication,7 this typology uses a “three C” framework to encompass online safety risks for a broad range of end users. It categorizes these harms, including threats to personal and community safety such as child exploitation and extremist content, harm to health caused by content promoting suicide or disordered eating and violations of dignity and privacy through bullying and harassment, doxxing and image-based abuse. Deception and manipulation, such as disinformation and manipulated media, are also addressed.
Citation
Source: Digital Futures for Children centre notes on the insight report, ‘Toolkit for Digital Safety Design Interventions and Innovations: Typology of Online Harms’ (by World Economic Forum) from the DFC research
database [https://www.digital-futures-for-children.net/research-database]”
Record created:
15 September 2026
This report, published in August 2023 by the World Economic Forum (WEF), provides a typology of online harm through the production, distribution, and consumption of online content. Online harms can arise from interactions with others (contact),
and through behaviors and practices facilitated by technology (conduct). The six categories or typologies identified by the WEF in this report are:
- Threats to Personal and Community Safety: This includes the production, distribution, and consumption of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), Child Sexual Exploitation Material (CSEM), grooming children for sexual abuse through impersonation, and the spread of pro-terror material. It also covers content that glorifies, supports, and encourages participation in violent extremist terrorist organisations and organised hate groups.
- Harm to Health and Well-being: This category involves exposure to materials related to suicide, self-harm, child sexual abuse, and eating disorders.
- Hate and Discrimination: This involves online hate speech against groups based on their racial, national, religious, ethnic, or caste identity. It also addresses how these online actions translate into discrimination through racist and gendered practices
in offline spaces and environments. - Violation of Dignity: This includes online bullying, blackmail, and threats that lead to sextortion or sexual extortion.
- Invasion of Privacy: This involves doxxing, which is the intentional online exposure of an individual’s identity, personal details, or sensitive information without their consent. It also includes image-based abuse, such as leaking, sharing, or
threatening to share an intimate image or video without the consent of the person shown. - Deception and Manipulation: This category covers various forms of online deceit and manipulation.
Methodology
This report builds on and collates material from existing literature to come up with the 6 typologies. The typology takes into account both regional and local contexts. It recognizes the complex and interconnected nature of online safety, encompassing content, contact and conduct risks. While recognizing the value of contract as a fourth “C” to reflect risks for children in relation to commercialisation and datafication,7 this typology uses a “three C” framework to encompass online safety risks for a broad range of end users. It categorizes these harms, including threats to personal and community safety such as child exploitation and extremist content, harm to health caused by content promoting suicide or disordered eating and violations of dignity and privacy through bullying and harassment, doxxing and image-based abuse. Deception and manipulation, such as disinformation and manipulated media, are also addressed.
Citation
Source: Digital Futures for Children centre notes on the insight report, ‘Toolkit for Digital Safety Design Interventions and Innovations: Typology of Online Harms’ (by World Economic Forum) from the DFC research
database [https://www.digital-futures-for-children.net/research-database]”
Record created:
15 September 2026- harmful content risks online
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