麻豆影视

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter

Georgia鈥檚 GOP leadership says fighting against cyberbullying will be a top priority when the Legislature convenes in January.

Sen. Jason Anavitarte, a Dallas Republican, said he plans to file a bill to tackle the issue, but he said the specifics of the plan are not yet hammered down.

鈥淭his legislation, when we introduce it, is going to be modeled after some similar states like Louisiana,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here are some bad examples out there that we won鈥檛 be copying because we do want to be sensitive to the First Amendment protection for citizens across the state.鈥�

尝辞耻颈蝉颈补苍补鈥檚 defines cyberbullying as 鈥渢he transmission of any electronic textual, visual, written, or oral communication with the malicious and willful intent to coerce, abuse, torment, or intimidate a person under the age of eighteen,鈥� and proscribes a fine of up to $500, a sentence of up to six months or both.

Anavitarte did not point to any specific states as bad examples, but in 2014, New York鈥檚 highest court a cyberbullying law on First Amendment grounds, and attempts to eliminate cyberbullying in other states have faced similar hurdles.

鈥淭here鈥檚 going to be teeth within the legislation itself,鈥� said Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who joined Anavitarte at a Capitol press conference Monday to introduce the planned bill. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not going to be limited to school districts, it鈥檚 going to have teeth in it where the people perpetrating these things, we鈥檙e going to try to hold them accountable.鈥�

Jones said legislators will partner with school systems and social media companies to craft the bill.

Free speech

Some free speech advocates say schools or districts interfering with a student鈥檚 off-campus speech violates the First Amendment.

In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of a Pennsylvania high school student on free speech grounds who was suspended from the cheerleading team after making a profane social media post criticizing her school.

But the justices wrote that schools鈥� ability to regulate student speech 鈥渄o not always disappear when that speech takes place off campus,鈥� and listed 鈥渟erious or severe bullying or harassment targeting particular individuals鈥� as a circumstance in which schools may implement regulation or punishment, even if it takes place off campus, if the speech could cause a disruption on campus.

Parents and victims say cyberbullying can be more pernicious than traditional bullying because it is not limited to school hours, the anonymity of the internet can spur bullies to be more vicious than they would be in person and victims may not even know who is tormenting them. Widespread adoption of social media among tweens and teens has meant bullies can spread mean messages to much wider audiences than schoolground taunts.

In a published earlier this year, the Cyberbullying Research Center found that in 2021, 23.2 percent of 13- to 17-year olds nationwide reported experiencing cyberbullying within the previous 30 days, up from 17.2 percent in 2019 and 16.7 percent in 2016.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor John McCosh for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com. Follow Georgia Recorder on and .

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter