Online harassment

What is online harassment?

Online harassment is when someone communicates online material that is:

• threatening, abusive, insulting, sexual or indecent; and

• likely to cause a person harassment, alarm, distress or humiliation.

The threshold is whether a reasonable person would think that the communication is likely to cause you to feel harassed, alarmed, distressed, or humiliated.

This means ordinary disagreements, criticisms, allegations or strongly worded comments online will not usually be online harassment. Not every unpleasant exchange online is an online harm. For example, calling someone’s view “stupid and flawed” during a heated debate online would not typically cross this threshold. Strong criticism, even if hurtful, will not usually be online harassment.

At the same time, context matters. Words used that may not be harassment in an argument between adults, may be harassment if used as part of a broader pattern of bullying by classmates against a child. Each case depends on its facts.

Is sexual harassment covered?

Yes. Online harassment can include sexual or indecent material communicated online, if it is likely to cause a person harassment, alarm, distress or humiliation.

For example, you may be a victim of online harassment if someone sends unsolicited images of genitals or other obscene material to you.

At the same time, online harassment does not include the communication of sexual or indecent material that has a legitimate purpose related to science, medicine, education or art. For example, sex education materials or journalistic pieces on sexual practices may have a legitimate purpose, depending on the circumstances.

Context matters. Sex education graphics may have a legitimate educational purpose in some settings. But if someone repeatedly sends such graphics in a group chat where the graphics are unrelated to the group’s purpose, and continues after others have asked them to stop, this may be online harassment.

What if the material targets someone close to me?

You may be a victim of online harassment even if the material was not directed at you. The key question is whether, because of your relationship with the person targeted, the online material is likely to cause you harassment, alarm, distress or humiliation.

For example, a person may harass a parent by making threats online against the parent’s child. The parent would be a victim if the threats were such that a reasonable person would expect the parent to be alarmed or distressed. The threats do not need to be sent to the parent or name the parent.

But not everyone who sees upsetting material online is a victim. The connection to the target matters.

For example, a person who reads threats directed at a stranger would not usually be regarded as a victim of online harassment simply because they found the threats distressing.

What if the harassment arises from many otherwise minor posts?

Sometimes, a single post seen in isolation may not appear to be online harassment. But if many people post similar material about the same person, around the same time and in the same context, the overall pattern may amount to online harassment.

For example, one person posting an emoji about someone may not mean much by itself. But if many people use the same emoji to flood that person’s page as part of a broader effort to mock or target them, the communications may be considered as a whole.

If you report such posts to the Online Safety Commission (OSC), the OSC can consider these communications cumulatively. This helps address harassment where the harm comes from a collection of posts, rather than from each individual post alone.

Note however that this cumulative rule does not apply to Court claims against administrators or online platforms under the Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Act, or against harassers under the Protection from Harassment Act. For these Court claims, the claim must involve a specific communication that itself amounts to online harassment.

To find out more about the Online Safety Commission, click here.

To find out more about taking legal action, click here.

Unsure whether this applies to you?

You do not need to work this out alone. You can speak to our community partners for support. They can help you understand what help may be available, and what steps you can take next. Find out more here.