A manipulation technique where a perpetrator monitors, documents, or even encourages another person’s online activity, then waits for that person to engage in any form of interaction—especially a negative one—and claims that interaction constitutes “stalking.” The perpetrator may have been following the target for months, but the target’s single reply or mention is presented as obsessive behavior. Reactive stalking inverts the reality of who is pursuing whom, using the target’s justified attention (or even accidental overlap) as evidence that the target is the stalker.
Example: “He’d been tracking her every post across three platforms. When she replied to a mutual friend’s thread where he was also present, he screenshotted it and filed a report accusing her of stalking. Reactive stalking: the hunter posing as the hunted.”
by Abzugal March 25, 2026
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