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Court Holds Facebook Threats Empty
On March 3, 2008, the Ontario Court of Justice ruled that Daniel Sather was not guilty of threatening to cause death or serious bodily harm pursuant to s.264.1(1)(a) of the Criminal Code, based on threats he made on the popular social networking site, Facebook.
After Mr. and Mrs. Sather had their newborn son removed from their custody by the Children Aid Society (CAS), Mr. Sather made numerous postings on Facebook that were construed by CAS and its employees as grave threats against them.
The Court ruled that although the actus reus was made out through the act of the postings, the mens rea, or in other words, the intent to actually instill fear or to intimidate, was not proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
Expert evidence was led to the effect that Facebook allowed users to embellish their character, to say provocative things to elicit responses from only their Facebook “friends” and, in essence, create an alter ego or persona. In effect, the Court considered that actions such as posting threats on Facebook should not always be construed seriously.
Other reasons for the Court’s determination were that Mr. Sather had direct contact with CAS personnel and never did or said anything to instill fear in them; the only way CAS found out about the threats was through a fortuitous search by a CAS employee; and lastly, Mr. Sather testified that he was only blowing off steam as he had been taught in a prior anger management course.
This ruling may cause concern for anti-bullying advocates who are trying to curb the phenomenon of “cyber-bullying” on Facebook and similar sites.
For a copy of the decision, visit:
http://www.canlii.org/en/on/oncj/doc/2008/2008oncj98/2008oncj98.html