She was a victim of online harassment. Then she reached out to one of her trolls

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published July 2, 2025 at 8:53 AM PDT

There's a rise in cyberbullying nationwide, with more women reporting being harassed online or by text message than men, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. (Rick Bowmer/AP)

When Dartmouth Professor Sachi Schmidt-Hori was asked by game company Ubisoft to consult on the script for its game “Assassin’s Creed Shadows,” she did not expect to become embroiled in an online debate about it.

She was singled out by many online for being the driving force behind the company’s decision to feature a Black character — Yasuke — as a samurai and one of the game’s protagonists. However, Schmidt-Hori had nothing to do with the choice. Nonetheless, she faced a lot of vicious personal attacks and threats online.

The company told her not to respond, but she decided to reach out to those abusing her online and change them.

Host Robin Young speaks to Schmidt-Hori and also Anik Talukder, an audiovisual engineer in London who posted unkind comments, but now regrets them and has struck up an unlikely friendship with the professor.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.