2 out of 5 internet users face online harassment: Survey

A New survey by the Pew Research Center has reportedly revealed that 40 percent of web users have been harassed online at some point of time.

The harshest forms of abuse-physical threats, stalking and sexual harassment-are often reserved for women, The Verge reported.

With responses from 2,849 Web users, the Pew study appears to be the most detailed of its kind looking at abusive behavior on the Web.

And it comes at a time when high profile cases of online abuse, many of them targeting women, have bubbled up from the Web's darker corners into the full light of public scrutiny.

Director of Internet, Science and Technology research at the center Lee Rainie said that there's a pretty broad spectrum of these actions, and some of it is quite severe.