Cyberbullying
Threatening injury to person, reputation or property (criminal intimidation)
Under section 24 of the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200) cyberbullies commit an offence if they threaten another person with injury to their person, reputation or property, or with any illegal act with intent to alarm the person so threatened or to cause that person to do something they are not legally bound to do, or to cause them not to do something they are legally entitled to do. This offence is punishable upon summary conviction by a fine of $2,000 and two years’ imprisonment, and upon indictment by imprisonment for five years.
Section 24 of the Crimes Ordinance addresses a wide range of threatening conduct, the common factor of which is intention to alarm the person to whom the threats are made. The threats themselves constitute the offence even if they are never implemented. Section 24 provides possible protection against cyberbullies, but it is cumbersome and requires identification of the bully and prosecution by the police, which depends on the sufficiency of evidence in the particular case.