Cyberbullying Laws by State (2026)
How each state handles cyberbullying and the penalties, from each state's code.
| State | Cyberbullying |
|---|---|
| Alabama | Communicating with someone by mail, phone or any written or electronic communication with intent to harass or alarm, in a manner likely to do so, is 'harassing communications,' a Class C misdemeanor (up to 3 months in jail and a $500 fine); it applies to any victim, not only minors. In schools, the student bullying law (which expressly includes cyberbullying on or off school property) bans bullying and threats between students and requires complaint forms, prevention programs and local board policies; it does not itself set a criminal penalty. Ala. Code 1975 §§ 13A-11-8(b), 16-28B-3, 16-28B-4; Ala. Code 1975 §§ 13A-5-6, 13A-5-7, 13A-5-11, 13A-5-12 |
| Alaska | Second-degree harassment includes repeatedly sending or publishing an electronic communication that insults, taunts, challenges or intimidates a person under 18 in a way that puts them in reasonable fear of physical injury, as well as obscene or threatening electronic communications; it is a class B misdemeanor (up to 90 days and $2,000). Separately, each school district must adopt a policy prohibiting harassment, intimidation and bullying of students; that school-policy law does not itself carry a criminal penalty. AS 11.61.120(a)(4), (a)(7), (b); AS 14.33.200, 14.33.250; AS 12.55.135(b) |
| Arizona | It is a class 1 misdemeanor (up to 6 months and $2,500) to knowingly terrify, intimidate, threaten or harass a specific person through electronic communication — including social media posts — by sending obscene or lewd messages, threatening physical harm, repeatedly sending anonymous or unwanted messages that disturb the person's peace, or posting their personal information or image to incite harassment or harm. The law applies to victims of any age; protected speech is excluded. A.R.S. § 13-2916; A.R.S. §§ 13-702(D), 13-707 |
| Arkansas | Cyberbullying — sending, transmitting or posting an electronic communication (email, social media, texts and the like) intended to frighten, coerce, intimidate, threaten, abuse or harass someone, as part of severe, repeated or hostile conduct — is a Class B misdemeanor (up to 90 days and $1,000), and a Class A misdemeanor (up to 1 year and $2,500) if the victim is a school employee. It applies to victims of any age. Ark. Code § 5-71-217; Ark. Code §§ 5-4-201, 5-4-401 |
| California | California's Penal Code 653.2 makes it a misdemeanor (up to 1 year in county jail and/or $1,000) to electronically post or send another person's personal identifying information, image or harassing messages, without consent, intending to place them in reasonable fear for their safety and to get third parties to contact, injure or harass them. For schools, the Education Code makes 'bullying,' including severe or pervasive acts by electronic means and 'cyber sexual bullying,' grounds for suspending or expelling a pupil; that school-discipline law does not carry a criminal penalty. Cal. Penal Code 653.2(a); Cal. Educ. Code 48900(r) |
| Colorado | Colorado's harassment law includes electronic harassment ('Kiana Arellano's Law'): with intent to harass, annoy or alarm, initiating communication or directing language at someone by phone, text, instant message, computer or other electronic medium in a way meant to harass or threaten bodily injury or property damage, or making obscene comments electronically. This is a class 2 misdemeanor (up to 120 days and $750), and a class 1 misdemeanor if motivated by the victim's race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or other listed traits. It applies to victims of any age and may be prosecuted where the message was sent or received. C.R.S. § 18-9-111(1)(e), (2), (3), (7); C.R.S. §§ 18-1.3-401, 18-1.3-501, 18-1.3-503 |
| Connecticut | Harassment in the second degree covers sending electronic messages, texts, emails or social-media messages, making calls, or posting photos, videos or words to an online meeting space, with intent to harass, terrorize or alarm and in a way likely to cause terror, intimidation or alarm; it is a Class C misdemeanor (up to 3 months and $500). Threatening to kill or injure someone by computer or other written communication is harassment in the first degree, a Class D felony, when the sender has certain prior serious felony convictions. School bullying, including electronic bullying, is handled through the school-climate laws in the education title, which set school duties rather than criminal penalties. Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 53a-182b, 53a-183; Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 53a-35a, 53a-36, 53a-41, 53a-42 |
| Delaware | Harassment includes communicating by mail, telephone or other written or electronic means in a way the person knows is likely to cause annoyance or alarm, with intent to harass, annoy or alarm; it is a Class A misdemeanor (up to 1 year and $2,300). School bullying, defined to include written and electronic acts, is handled through required school bullying-prevention and cyberbullying policies in the education title; those sections set no criminal penalty, though an incident may also be a crime. 11 Del. C. § 1311; 14 Del. C. §§ 4161, 4164; 11 Del. C. §§ 4205, 4206 |
| District of Columbia | Online harassment can be prosecuted as stalking: purposefully engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that is meant to, or that the person knows or should know would, make a reasonable person fear for their safety, feel seriously alarmed, or suffer emotional distress. Stalking carries up to 12 months, up to 5 years if the offender is at least 4 years older than a victim under 18 (or there is a stay-away order, a prior conviction within 10 years, or over $2,500 in financial injury), and up to 10 years after two or more prior convictions. Youth bullying, which expressly includes electronic communications, is handled by the Youth Bullying Prevention Act, which applies to schools and youth-serving agencies and creates no criminal penalty in its definitions section. D.C. Code §§ 22-3133, 22-3134, 2-1535.01 |
| Florida | Willfully, maliciously and repeatedly cyberstalking someone is stalking, a first-degree misdemeanor (up to 1 year); doing so with a credible threat, in violation of an injunction, or against a child under 16 is aggravated stalking, a third-degree felony (up to 5 years). School bullying, defined to include cyberbullying, is handled through required school district policies. Fla. Stat. §§ 784.048, 1006.147; Fla. Stat. §§ 775.082, 775.083 |
| Georgia | Repeatedly contacting someone by electronic communication to harass, molest, threaten or intimidate them or their family, or threatening bodily harm electronically, is harassing communications, a misdemeanor. Georgia's school bullying law expressly covers cyberbullying through electronic communication directed at students or school staff, even if sent off campus, but it sets school discipline (a student in grades 6 to 12 found to have bullied for the third time in a school year must be assigned to an alternative school) rather than criminal penalties. O.C.G.A. §§ 16-11-39.1, 20-2-751.4 |
| Hawaii | Harassment includes, with intent to harass, annoy or alarm, repeatedly making calls or sending any form of electronic communication (including email) without a legitimate purpose, repeatedly communicating anonymously or at very inconvenient hours, or continuing to communicate after being told it is unwelcome; it is a petty misdemeanor (up to 30 days and $1,000). Haw. Rev. Stat. § 711-1106; Haw. Rev. Stat. §§ 706-640, 706-659, 706-660, 706-663 |
| Idaho | A student or minor at school or a school activity who intentionally harasses, intimidates or bullies another student, including by phone or computer, may be guilty of an infraction. Separately, contacting someone by phone, email, text or other electronic communication with intent to annoy, terrify, threaten, intimidate, harass or offend, using obscene language, threatening harm, or repeatedly disturbing their peace, is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in county jail; a second or later conviction is a felony punishable by up to five years. Idaho Code §§ 18-917A, 18-6710 |
| Illinois | Harassment through electronic communications includes sending (or getting someone to send) an electronic communication to harass a child under 13 when the sender is 16 or older, as well as obscene messages meant to offend, threats of injury, and interrupting someone's phone or electronic service to harass. It is normally a Class B misdemeanor (up to 6 months) and a Class A misdemeanor for a repeat offense, but harassing a child under 13 this way, or any electronic harassment by an adult of a victim under 18, is a Class 4 felony (1 to 3 years). Separately, the School Code requires schools to address bullying, which it defines to include cyber-bullying, but that law sets school policy rather than a criminal penalty. 720 ILCS 5/26.5-3, 5/26.5-5; 105 ILCS 5/22-110; 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-45, -55, -60 |
| Indiana | Indiana's harassment law covers using a computer network or other electronic communication, with intent to harass, annoy or alarm and no intent of legitimate communication, to communicate with a person or send obscene messages; it is a Class B misdemeanor (up to 180 days and $1,000). Separately, the school code defines 'bullying' to include repeated communications or images sent digitally or electronically by students against another student, and requires schools to address it; that school law does not itself carry a criminal penalty. IC 35-45-2-2(a)(4); IC 20-33-8-0.2; IC 35-50-3-3 |
| Iowa | Iowa has no separate criminal cyberbullying offense. Its harassment law covers communicating by phone, writing or electronic communication with intent to intimidate, annoy or alarm, without legitimate purpose and in a way likely to cause annoyance or harm: third-degree harassment is a simple misdemeanor, second-degree (a threat of bodily injury, or two prior convictions in ten years) a serious misdemeanor, and first-degree (a threat of a forcible felony, or three priors) an aggravated misdemeanor. Separately, Iowa's school anti-bullying law requires schools to adopt policies against harassment and bullying, including electronic bullying; that law itself is a school-policy law, not a criminal statute. Iowa Code §§ 708.7, 280.28 |
| Kansas | Kansas law defines cyberbullying (bullying by email, text, social media, online games and similar means) in its school bullying statute, which requires every school district to adopt policies prohibiting bullying by students, staff or parents; that statute itself carries no criminal penalty. Criminally, harassment by telecommunication device - using a phone, computer or other electronic device to send obscene material, or to send messages or images with intent to abuse, threaten or harass - is a class A nonperson misdemeanor (up to one year in jail and a $2,500 fine). K.S.A. 72-6147; K.S.A. 21-6206 |
| Kentucky | Kentucky's harassing communications law expressly covers student cyberbullying: a student enrolled in a local school district who, with intent to intimidate, harass, annoy or alarm, communicates with or about another student by phone, internet, mail or other electronic or written means in a way a reasonable person would know would cause the other student fear of physical harm, intimidation, humiliation or embarrassment, with no legitimate purpose, commits harassing communications. Electronic messages meant to harass anyone that cause annoyance or alarm are also covered. The offense is a Class B misdemeanor (up to 90 days and a $250 fine). KRS 525.080 |
| Louisiana | Louisiana has a criminal cyberbullying statute: sending any electronic text, image, written or oral communication with the malicious and willful intent to coerce, abuse, torment or intimidate a person under 18. An adult offender faces a fine up to $500, up to 6 months, or both. When the offender is under 18, the case is handled exclusively under the juvenile provisions (Title VII) of the Children's Code. La. R.S. 14:40.7 |
| Maine | Maine's bullying law is a school-policy statute: it prohibits bullying and cyberbullying in public schools and requires school policies and responses, but it does not create a crime. Electronic harassment can be prosecuted under the general harassment statute, which makes it a Class E crime (up to 6 months) to engage in a course of conduct intended to harass, torment or threaten someone after being told to stop by police or a court order; it rises to Class C with qualifying prior convictions. 20-A M.R.S. § 6554; 17-A M.R.S. § 506-A |
| Maryland | Maryland's electronic harassment statute (often called Grace's Law) makes it a misdemeanor to maliciously use electronic communications or 'electronic conduct' (such as fake profiles, posting real or doctored images of a minor, or provoking others to harass a minor) in a series of communications or a single significant act intended to intimidate or harass a minor and cause physical injury or serious emotional distress, or to harass anyone after being asked to stop. The penalty is up to 3 years and/or a $10,000 fine; acting with intent to induce a minor to commit suicide carries up to 10 years and/or $10,000. Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-805(b), (e) |
| Massachusetts | Massachusetts has no separate criminal 'cyberbullying' offense; its school anti-bullying law (G.L. c. 71, § 37O) requires school policies. Online harassment of anyone, including minors, can be charged as criminal harassment: willfully and maliciously engaging in a knowing pattern of conduct directed at a specific person that seriously alarms that person and would cause a reasonable person substantial emotional distress, expressly including email, internet communications and instant messages. It is punished by up to 2.5 years in the house of correction and/or a fine up to $5,000, with up to 10 years in state prison for a repeat offense. G.L. c. 265, § 43A(a), (c); G.L. c. 71, § 37O |
| Michigan | Michigan's cyberbullying crime covers anyone (not only minors) who posts a message in a public media forum intended to place a person in fear of bodily harm or death and expressing an intent to commit violence, posted with intent to threaten or knowing it will be viewed as a threat. It is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 93 days and/or a $500 fine, and up to 1 year and/or $1,000 with a prior conviction. A continued pattern of harassing or intimidating behavior that causes serious injury is a felony with up to 5 years and/or $5,000, and one that causes death is a felony with up to 10 years and/or $10,000. MCL 750.411x |
| Minnesota | Minnesota's student bullying law (Minn. Stat. § 121A.031) requires school policies covering bullying, including by electronic technology, but does not create a crime. Online harassment can be charged under the harassment statute, which makes a gross misdemeanor of listed harassing acts done with intent to kill, injure, harass or intimidate that place the victim in reasonable fear of substantial bodily harm or cause substantial emotional distress. It is a felony with up to 5 years and/or $10,000 when committed against a victim under 18 by an actor more than 36 months older, and up to 10 years and/or $20,000 when such an act is also done with sexual or aggressive intent. Minn. Stat. § 609.749, subds. 2, 3; § 121A.031 |
| Mississippi | Posting a message electronically to cause injury to someone without their consent is a felony with up to five years and/or $10,000. Neither statute has a separate rule for minor victims. The school bullying law covers electronic communications on school property, at school functions or on a school bus, but sets no criminal penalty. Miss. Code Ann. §§ 97-45-15, 97-45-17, 37-11-67 |
| Missouri | Missouri's harassment laws cover any act, including electronic messages, done without good cause and with the purpose of causing emotional distress. Harassment in the first degree (the person actually suffers emotional distress) is a class E felony (up to 4 years). Harassment in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor (up to one year and $2,000), or a class E felony for a repeat offender. Separately, every school district must have an antibullying policy that covers cyberbullying, but that law sets no criminal penalty. RSMo §§ 565.090, 565.091, 160.775; §§ 558.011, 558.002 |
| Montana | Violating privacy in communications includes using electronic communication to threaten injury, harass with repeated obscene or lewd messages, extort, or repeatedly disturb someone's peace; the penalty is up to $500 and/or six months for a first offense, up to one year and/or $1,000 for a second, and up to five years and/or $10,000 for a third or later. The school bullying law prohibits bullying of K-12 public school students but does not create a criminal penalty. MCA 45-8-213(1)(a)-(b), (4); 20-5-209 |
| Nebraska | Intimidation by telephone call or electronic communication (sending a message directly to someone, with intent to intimidate, threaten or harass, that uses obscene language, threatens injury, or attempts extortion) is a Class III misdemeanor (up to three months and $500). Stalking (willfully harassing a person through a course of conduct, including repeated communications, with intent to injure, terrify, threaten or intimidate) is a separate offense. Each school district must adopt a bullying prevention policy covering electronic abuse on school grounds, vehicles and activities, but that law sets no criminal penalty. Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 28-1310, 28-311.02, 28-311.03, 79-2,137; Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-105, § 28-106 |
| Nevada | A minor who knowingly sends or distributes an image of a minor being bullied, to encourage the bullying and cause harm, is treated as a child in need of supervision for a first violation and as having committed a delinquent act (detention as if a misdemeanor) for a repeat. Knowingly threatening by oral, written or electronic communication (including cyber-bullying) to cause bodily harm or death to a pupil or school employee, to intimidate, cause panic or disrupt a school, is a misdemeanor, or a gross misdemeanor (up to 364 days and $2,000) if it actually causes fear, panic or disruption. Stalking by electronic means (internet, social media, email or text) is a misdemeanor for a first offense, rising to a category C felony for a third, with higher penalties when the victim is under 16 and the offender at least five years older. NRS 200.900, 392.915, 200.575; NRS 193.130, 193.140, 193.150 |
| New Hampshire | New Hampshire's harassment law covers electronic communications: communicating with no legitimate purpose to annoy, abuse, threaten or alarm, repeated communications at very inconvenient hours or in offensively coarse language, or communicating a threat to someone's life or safety. Harassment is a misdemeanor. The Pupil Safety and Violence Prevention Act requires every school board to adopt a policy prohibiting bullying and cyberbullying, including off-campus conduct that disrupts school, but it sets no criminal penalty. RSA 644:4, 193-F:4; RSA 651:2, 625:9 |
| New Jersey | Cyber-harassment: making online communications, with purpose to harass, that threaten injury or harm to a person or property, threaten a crime, or send or post lewd, indecent or obscene material meant to emotionally harm or frighten is a crime of the fourth degree (up to 18 months). It is a crime of the third degree if a person 21 or older impersonates a minor to cyber-harass a minor, or the victim is a public servant. A minor under 16 adjudicated delinquent may be ordered, with a parent, to complete a cyber-harassment class; a parent who fails to comply is a disorderly person fined up to $100 (first offense) or $500, and parents who willfully fail to supervise may be sued. Schools must separately adopt harassment, intimidation and bullying (HIB) policies. N.J.S. 2C:33-4.1; N.J.S. 18A:37-15 |
| New Mexico | New Mexico's cyberbullying law is a school-policy law, not a criminal statute. The Safe Schools for All Students Act defines cyberbullying as bullying through electronic communication and requires each local school board to adopt and enforce policies to prevent bullying (including electronic communication on or using school property) and to prohibit electronic communication directed at a student that substantially interferes with the student's ability to participate in school; consequences are school discipline. Criminal conduct may be charged under general laws, such as harassment (a knowing pattern of conduct intended to annoy, seriously alarm or terrorize another person that would cause a reasonable person substantial emotional distress), a misdemeanor. NMSA 1978, §§ 22-35-1 to 22-35-5 (§ 22-35-2(B), § 22-35-3(A)); § 30-3A-2 |
| New York | The Dignity for All Students Act defines cyberbullying as harassment or bullying through any form of electronic communication and requires school policies and procedures to address it, but it sets no criminal penalty. Young people charged with an offense involving cyberbullying may be eligible for the state's up-to-eight-hour education reform program run by the Office of Children and Family Services. N.Y. Educ. Law § 11(7)-(8); N.Y. Soc. Serv. Law § 458-l |
| North Carolina | Cyber-bullying is a crime: using a computer or computer network to intimidate or torment a minor (or in some cases the minor's parent), for example by building a fake profile, posting private or sexual information or real or doctored images, sending repeated messages, or signing the minor up for pornographic sites. It is a Class 1 misdemeanor for an offender 18 or older and a Class 2 misdemeanor for an offender under 18. A first-time minor offender may receive a conditional discharge, with the case dismissed after probation and the record eligible for expunction. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-458.1 |
| North Dakota | Electronic harassment is covered by the general harassment statute: with intent to frighten or harass, threatening injury in writing or by electronic communication is a class A misdemeanor (up to 360 days), and making repeated electronic communications with no legitimate purpose, communicating a harmful falsehood, or posting a person's identifying information online is a class B misdemeanor (up to 30 days and a $1,500 fine). N.D.C.C. §§ 15.1-19-17, 15.1-19-18, 12.1-17-07; N.D.C.C. § 12.1-32-01 |
| Ohio | Telecommunications harassment covers knowingly sending electronic messages, or posting text, audio or images online, with purpose to abuse, threaten or harass another person; it is a first-degree misdemeanor (up to 180 days) for a first offense and a fifth-degree felony after that. School boards must adopt harassment, intimidation and bullying policies that cover electronic acts, but that law creates no criminal penalty. R.C. 2917.21, 3313.666; R.C. 2929.14, 2929.18, 2929.24, 2929.28 |
| Oklahoma | Using a phone or other electronic communication (including texts, images and social media posts) to terrify, intimidate, harass or threaten someone, or anonymously to annoy, abuse or harass, is a misdemeanor, and a second conviction is a Class D1 felony (up to five (5) years). The School Safety and Bullying Prevention Act defines bullying to include electronic communication directed at students and requires school districts to adopt policies; it does not itself set a criminal penalty. 21 O.S. § 1172; 70 O.S. §§ 24-100.3, 24-100.4 |
| Oregon | Sending a telephonic, electronic or written threat to seriously injure someone or commit a felony against them or their family, which would reasonably cause alarm, is harassment, a Class B misdemeanor (up to 6 months), raised to a Class A misdemeanor in some cases, including when the sender reasonably believed the victim was under 18 and more than three years younger. Texting or calling after being told to stop, to harass or annoy, is telephonic harassment, a Class B misdemeanor. Separately, school law defines cyberbullying as using an electronic communication device to harass, intimidate or bully and requires every school district to adopt a policy prohibiting it; that law does not set a criminal penalty. ORS 166.065, 166.090; ORS 339.351, 339.356 |
| Pennsylvania | Yes. Cyber harassment of a child is, with intent to harass, annoy or alarm, engaging in a continuing course of conduct by electronic means, directly to a child or through social media, that makes seriously disparaging statements about the child's physical characteristics, sexuality, sexual activity, or mental or physical health, or threatens to inflict harm. It is a misdemeanor of the third degree (up to 1 year). When the person charged is a juvenile, the court must first consider a diversionary program (informal adjustment or consent decree), which can include an education program, and the record is expunged on successful completion. 18 Pa.C.S. § 2709(a.1), (c) |
| Rhode Island | Rhode Island's criminal statute is cyberstalking and cyberharassment: transmitting any communication by computer or other electronic device, or causing someone to be contacted, for the sole purpose of harassing that person or their family. Harassing means a knowing and willful course of conduct that seriously alarms or annoys the person, serves no legitimate purpose, and would cause a reasonable person substantial emotional distress or fear of bodily injury. A first offense is a misdemeanor (up to one year and/or $500); a second or later conviction is a felony (up to two (2) years and/or $6,000). The statute is not limited to minors. R.I. Gen. Laws § 11-52-4.2 |
| South Carolina | Unlawful communication, using a phone or other electronic communication to send obscene or profane messages, threaten an unlawful act, repeatedly contact someone to harass them, or falsely report a death or injury, is a misdemeanor punished by a $100 to $500 fine and/or up to 30 days. The statute does not single out minors. S.C. Code § 16-17-430 |
| South Dakota | Using a phone or other electronic communication device to contact someone with intent to terrorize, intimidate, threaten, harass or annoy them with obscene or lewd language, to threaten physical harm, to extort, or to disturb them with repeated anonymous calls is a Class 1 misdemeanor (up to one year and/or $2,000). School law defines bullying to include threatening use of data or computer software and written communication directed at students, and requires every school district to adopt a bullying policy; that law sets no criminal penalty. SDCL 49-31-31; SDCL 13-32-15, 13-32-16, 13-32-18 |
| Tennessee | Tennessee's harassment law makes it a crime to intentionally engage in bullying or cyberbullying (bullying through electronic devices), as well as to send threats or annoying or alarming communications by text, email or social media; an adult's violation is a Class A misdemeanor. When a minor commits bullying or cyberbullying it is a delinquent act, and the court must also suspend the minor's driver license (or eligibility) for one year, with a possible restricted license. 'Bullying' is defined around conduct by a student that substantially interferes with another student's education. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-308; Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-35-111 |
| Texas | Harassment includes sending repeated electronic communications in a way reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, embarrass or offend; it is a Class B misdemeanor (up to 180 days and $2,000), and a Class A misdemeanor (up to 1 year and $4,000) if the electronic harassment targeted a child under 18 with intent that the child commit suicide or seriously harm himself or herself, or the actor violated a cyberbullying restraining order. Separately, 'David's Law' requires school districts to adopt bullying and cyberbullying policies; that school-policy statute itself does not carry a criminal penalty. Tex. Penal Code § 42.07(a)(7), (c); Tex. Educ. Code § 37.0832; Tex. Penal Code §§ 12.21-12.35 |
| Utah | Electronic communication harassment (with intent to intimidate, abuse, threaten, harass or frighten, making repeated electronic contact, continuing after being told to stop, taunting in a way likely to provoke violence, or threatening injury) is a class B misdemeanor (up to 6 months and $1,000), and a class A misdemeanor for a second or later violation. The victim may still sue for damages. Utah Code § 76-12-202; Utah Code §§ 76-3-203, 76-3-204, 76-3-205, 76-3-301 |
| Vermont | Disturbing the peace by phone or other electronic communication (contacting someone with intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass or annoy and making obscene proposals, threatening injury, or repeatedly contacting them) carries up to 3 months and/or $250, and up to 6 months and/or $500 with a prior conviction. 13 V.S.A. § 1027 |
| Virginia | Harassment by computer (using a computer or network, with intent to coerce, intimidate or harass, to send obscene or indecent language, make an obscene proposal, or threaten an illegal or immoral act) is a Class 1 misdemeanor (up to 12 months and $2,500). Va. Code § 18.2-152.7:1; Va. Code §§ 18.2-10, 18.2-11 |
| Washington | Cyber harassment (with intent to harass or intimidate, sending an electronic communication that is lewd or obscene, is repeated or anonymous, or threatens injury or property damage) is a gross misdemeanor (up to 364 days and $5,000). It becomes a class C felony (up to 5 years) with a prior harassment conviction involving the same victim, a threat to kill, a violation of a protective order, or harassment of a criminal justice participant or election official over their duties. RCW 9A.90.120; RCW 9A.20.021 |
| West Virginia | Using a computer, phone or other electronic device with intent to harass or abuse (anonymous contact, contact after being told to stop, threatening a crime, or sending obscene material after being told to stop) is a misdemeanor: up to $500 and/or 6 months in jail, or up to $1,000 and/or 1 year for a second or later offense. It applies to victims of any age. For schools, each county board must adopt a policy banning harassment, intimidation or bullying, expressly including electronic acts, with student discipline; that school law carries no criminal penalty. W. Va. Code §§ 61-3C-14a, 18-2C-2, 18-2C-3 |
| Wisconsin | Sending an email or other computerized message intended to frighten, intimidate, threaten or abuse someone that threatens injury or property damage, uses obscene language, or hides the sender's identity is a Class B misdemeanor (up to 90 days and/or $1,000); sending such messages only to harass, annoy or offend, or sending repeated messages solely to harass, is a Class B forfeiture (civil, up to $1,000). These apply to victims of any age. For schools, each school board must adopt a policy prohibiting bullying by pupils, with reporting, investigation and discipline; that school law carries no criminal penalty. Wis. Stat. §§ 947.0125, 118.46; Wis. Stat. §§ 939.50, 939.51 |
| Wyoming | Harassing someone through a course of conduct, including electronic or anonymous communications or electronic surveillance of the person's internet activity, intending to cause substantial emotional distress or fear, is stalking: a misdemeanor with up to 1 year and/or $750, and a felony up to 10 years if, among other things, an adult stalks a minor or violates a protection order. Under the Safe School Climate Act, no person may engage in harassment, intimidation or bullying at school, including intentional electronic communications, and each school district must adopt a policy with consequences; that school law sets no criminal penalty. W.S. 6-2-506; 21-4-311 through 21-4-314 |
General legal information, not legal advice. Laws change and local rules can differ; check the linked official source or talk to a lawyer about your situation.