Texting, social media, group chats, gaming platforms, and image-sharing apps are central to how many young people communicate. An argument that once might have ended at school can now continue online, reach a large audience, and leave a permanent digital record.
Cyberbullying and sexting are not automatically criminal offences. However, certain threats, messages, recordings, and shared images may lead to an investigation under the Criminal Code. When the person accused was between 12 and 17 at the time of the alleged conduct, the case is generally handled under Canada’s youth criminal justice system.
Is Cyberbullying a Criminal Offence?
The Criminal Code does not contain a specific offence called “cyberbullying.” The term can describe conduct ranging from insults and social exclusion to persistent harassment, threats, impersonation, and the sharing of private images.
Some inappropriate online behaviour may be addressed by parents, schools, social media platforms, or civil proceedings. More serious conduct may fall within offences such as criminal harassment, uttering threats, harassing communications, voyeurism, or the non-consensual distribution of an intimate image.
Whether charges are laid can depend on the content of the communication, how often it occurred, the intention of the sender, its effect on the recipient, and the surrounding circumstances.
Repeated Messages and Online Harassment
Criminal harassment allegations may arise when a person repeatedly contacts someone or engages in other prohibited conduct while knowing, or being reckless about whether, the person is harassed. The conduct must also cause the recipient to reasonably fear for their safety or another person’s safety.
Examples may include repeated direct messages, contact through multiple accounts, monitoring someone’s activity, or continuing to communicate after being told to stop. The legal issue involves more than whether the messages were rude, upsetting, or unwanted.
Message histories, timestamps, account records, screenshots, voice notes, location information, and witness accounts may all become relevant.
Threats Sent Through Social Media
A young person may face an allegation of uttering threats when a message communicates a threat to cause death or bodily harm, damage property, or harm an animal belonging to another person.
A threat can be communicated through a text, a group chat, a gaming platform, a social media comment, a video, or a disappearing-message application. Even when the sender claims the statement was a joke or exaggeration, police may examine the wording and context.
Investigators may consider the relationship between the individuals, earlier conflicts, accompanying images or emojis, and the messages sent before and after the alleged threat.
When Sexting May Lead to Charges
“Sexting” generally refers to creating, sending, or receiving sexually suggestive or explicit messages, photographs, or videos. It is not itself the name of a criminal offence.
Legal concerns may arise when an image depicts someone under 18, was created secretly, was obtained without consent, or was shared beyond its intended recipient. Images involving minors may engage Criminal Code provisions concerning child sexual abuse and exploitation material.
A privately created image may raise different legal issues if it is later forwarded, uploaded, posted, or shown to others. Consent to create or send an image does not necessarily amount to consent to distribute it.
Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent
The Criminal Code prohibits knowingly publishing, distributing, transmitting, selling, advertising, or otherwise making an intimate image available without the depicted person’s consent, or while being reckless about whether that person consented.
An intimate image generally involves a visual recording in which a person is nude, exposing intimate areas, or engaged in explicit sexual activity in circumstances involving a reasonable expectation of privacy.
An image sent privately to one person may still be covered by the offence if the recipient later forwards it to friends, posts it online, or shares it through another account without consent.
Secret Recordings and Voyeurism
Voyeurism allegations may arise when someone secretly observes or records another person in circumstances where that person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
Examples may include using a hidden phone, recording part of a private video call, taking an image in a change room, or recording an intimate encounter without consent.
The creation of the recording and its later distribution may be treated as separate conduct. As a result, a single incident can lead to multiple allegations.
Digital Evidence in Youth Investigations
Digital investigations may involve more than a screenshot provided by a complainant. Police may seek access to phones, computers, social media accounts, cloud storage, subscriber information, and records held by online platforms.
Evidence may include deleted messages, metadata, account logins, backups, saved drafts, photographs, search histories, and records showing when content was sent or uploaded. Questions may also arise about who controlled an account, whether a screenshot was altered, and whether another person had access to the device.
Deleting messages, contacting the complainant, or asking others to change their accounts may create further complications. Contact could also breach release conditions if the young person has been arrested and placed under a no-contact order.
The Youth Criminal Justice Act
The Youth Criminal Justice Act generally applies to individuals who were at least 12 but under 18 when the alleged offence occurred.
The youth justice system recognizes that young people have reduced maturity and should be held accountable in a manner proportionate to the seriousness of the conduct. It also emphasizes rehabilitation, reintegration, and the use of measures outside the traditional court process where appropriate.
Depending on the circumstances, a matter may involve a warning, a caution, a referral, an extrajudicial measure, an extrajudicial sanction, or formal court proceedings. Factors can include the seriousness of the allegation, the harm caused, the youth’s prior history, and the available evidence.
Rights During Police Questioning
A young person has the right to retain and instruct a lawyer without delay. A youth who is arrested or detained must be advised of that right and given an opportunity to obtain legal assistance.
The Youth Criminal Justice Act also contains special requirements for statements made to police. A young person must generally be told that they are not required to speak, that anything said may be used as evidence, and that they may consult a lawyer and a parent or other appropriate adult.
A parent’s presence does not replace the youth’s right to legal counsel. Comments about passwords, account ownership, messages, or devices may become important evidence.
Privacy and Youth Records
The Youth Criminal Justice Act generally restricts the publication of information that could identify a young person as having been dealt with under the Act. Access to Ontario youth court files is also restricted.
These protections do not mean that a youth case has no consequences. Release conditions, probation terms, restrictions on electronic devices, no-contact provisions, and youth records may affect school, family life, employment, and daily routines.
Toronto Youth Criminal Defence: Navigating Charges Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act
Cyberbullying, sexting, intimate images, criminal harassment, and uttering threats allegations can create immediate concerns for a young person and their family. At Hicks Adams, our Toronto criminal defence lawyers assist youth and parents with police investigations, release conditions, Youth Justice Court proceedings, and digital evidence arising from texts, social media, group chats, and online platforms.
If your child is facing an investigation or charge related to social media or digital communications in Toronto or the Greater Toronto Area, Hicks Adams can help. Contact our team at 416-975-1700 or online at [email protected] to schedule a free consultation and learn more about the allegations, the court process, and available defence options.
