Journalist faces ‘sexual harassment’ by LinkedIn connection, says, ‘I have all the privileges, yet I’m utterly helpless’

Journalist-author Nishtha Gautam has shared her frustration about ongoing harassment on LinkedIn despite her professional and personal privileges. She explained that the “sexual harassment” began innocently enough with a connection request, followed by polite messages.

However, this soon escalated into a series of inappropriate direct messages. Although she tried to ignore them, the situation worsened when the same man, named Tulsi Kumar, started leaving comments on her Instagram.

“I’ll be 39 in exactly 10 days. I’m a mother of two daughters—21 and 15. I have all the privileges that you can count—caste, class, religion, skin colour, education everything. My LinkedIn profile is for everyone to see and assess my professional standing,” she wrote on LinkedIn. “Yet, I’m utterly helpless and I don’t know anymore when this will stop. The screenshots are self explanatory.”

Nishtha expressed anger at the behaviour of men online and criticised those who claim "not all men" are like that.

““Not all men” tribe, sit down. Unless YOU wake up to such bullshit from random stranger women in your professional account’s inbox routinely, don’t even think of making your case,” she wrote.

She also voiced her frustration with LinkedIn’s lack of adequate reporting tools for harassment. According to her, digital safety measures are inadequate.

“Digital safety, my foot! It’s a disgusting world where women can be made to feel like shit even within the safety of their homes by stranger men,” she concluded.

LinkedIn users react

Nishtha Gautam’s online community stood by her.

“Creeps like these, who shamelessly use 'Tulsi' in their names need to be deweeded the way they understand. Sorry you had to go through this, but yes, this is a violation of your privacy, and a crime - digital abuse... Report him to be caught & faced with a punishment he deserves,” wrote one LinkedIn user.

“Your openness in sharing this experience, while painful, also sheds light on a critical issue that far too many women face in digital spaces. The fact that this behavior persists despite all the social and professional progress we've made is maddening, and it’s understandable why you feel so frustrated and violated,” wrote another.

LinkedIn issues statement

“People expect their experience on LinkedIn to be professional and free of harassment. Our Professional Community Policies include detailed examples of what kind of content isn’t allowed and are clear that harassment, including unwanted romantic advances, does not belong on LinkedIn. That’s why we invest in technology and our teams of experts to keep LinkedIn a professional place that every member of the global workforce can trust," LinkedIn said in its statement.

“We’ve also added an optional advanced safety feature that detects harmful messages. When enabled, this feature allows LinkedIn’s automated machine learning models to detect likely harmful content, like sexual harassment, within messages and hide it. These updates make it easier for members to report and our team to act. Learn more about how to turn on the setting here,” LinkedIn said.

"We encourage members to report inappropriate comments or messages on LinkedIn so our team can help protect them and others. Read more about how we’re working every day to keep our community trusted and professional here,” it added.