Is Cyberbullying Protected Free Speech

Is Cyberbullying Protected Free Speech? As U.S. citizens we are granted the right to free speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Oxford English Dictionary defines freedom of speech as the, “freedom to express one’s opinions without censorship, legal penalty, or any other restraint, especially when regarded as a right.” The problem our courtrooms have run into is how to dictate freedom of speech cases when dealing with cyberbullying. The term “language” is no longer just referring to written or verbal speech, but speech that is electronically communicated as well. Freedom of speech is a broad and beautiful thing, but with a right that entails so much room for interpretation, a right so broad, there must be restrictions.

If a woman believes that a comment someone made was rude, it is not to go assume that the right is now unprotected free speech on the action that the woman found it offensive. Daniel S. Harawa describes this by saying, “What is clear is that the First Amendment protects a wide array of distasteful, disturbing, defamatory or factually false, profane, ‘anti-American’ and hateful speech” (Harawa 377). A popular issue dealing with freedom of speech that is heavily concerned with adolescents is called cyberbullying. The Oxford English Dictionary defines cyberbullying as, “The use of information technology to bully a person by sending or posting text or images of an intimidating or threatening nature.” Generally, cyberbullying is done within a school setting, but is not limited to such circumstances. Though it is not virtuous or acceptable, cyberbullying, in most cases, is a means of protected free speech because it does not remain consistent with the exceptions to freedom of speech such as true

This reveals the gray area when trying to prove that a case is a violation of free speech. Just because something it is written online does not mean that it will forever stand true. When discussing cyberbullying, though it is not stated in the dictionary definition, we are commonly referring to online bullying dealing with adolescents. Because of the gray area, and because in this topic specifically we are referencing today’s youth, it is hard to validate a child’s Facebook posts as truly threatening. This isn’t meaning to say that all children have the mental stability and good morals to not follow through on certain threats, or that these threats via cyberspace should not be taken without caution, but that they are, indeed, protected under the first amendment. Though cyberbullying refers to teens, adults can be ridiculed through technology as well. In Pennsylvania, a student made a site in spite of his math teacher and juvenilely titled it, “Teacher Sux.” The student posted many considerably threatening posts about the faculty member, which included a section desiring funds to hire a hit man to kill the teacher followed by a caption questioning, “Why Should She Die?” This case was reviewed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and shockingly was ruled not a true threat on the argument that while the