CATHY YOUNG: The dangers of going too far to curb online harassment.

Too often, the progressive activists who dominate initiatives against cyberabuse — and advise major companies — openly advocate favoritism based on identity politics. One model code of conduct for digital communities that has served as a basis for companies such as Google, Yahoo and Facebook takes a tough anti-harassment stance but explicitly “prioritizes marginalized people’s safety over privileged people’s comfort” and rejects complaints about “reverse racism,” “reverse sexism” or being attacked for “oppressive behavior or assumptions.”

Indeed, Internet “social justice” activism with its culture of “call-outs” and pile-ons can itself be a harassment machine. Recently, a 19-year-old comic artist reportedly attempted suicide due to bullying by bloggers who relentlessly attacked her for perceived “fatphobia,” racial stereotyping and other sins. In May, film director Joss Whedon left Twitter after a nasty backlash against supposed anti-feminism in “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” (While Whedon denied he was driven off, he certainly faced a barrage of ugliness.)

Yet most discussions of Internet harassment omit such toxic behavior and even more egregious abuse with a “progressive” face. Two years ago, there was much media sympathy for a so-called hacktivist facing legal trouble for cyberattacks targeting residents of Steubenville, Ohio, to bring attention to the rape of a teenage girl. Never mind that the online vigilantism hurt many innocent people who had their records exposed and were threatened or smeared.

Like most lefty campaigns, it’s all about exacerbating power differentials while pretending to address them.