Stopping cyberbullying requires a combined societal effort

摘要

The Internet and social media have transformed the nature of bullying. Cyberbullying has become a pervasive threat to the health and well-being - and sometimes the lives - of youth. The federal government has proposed new legislation to combat cyberbullying,1 which it hopes to pass by spring of this year. Although the Criminal Code covers many activities that constitute serious forms of bullying, the new law would add specific prohibition of the transmission of "intimate images" of an individual without his or her consent. It would also empower the courts to seize electronic devices used to commit alleged cyberbullying offences.