(What follows is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people, places or situations is purely coincidental.)

Scott, a Grade 9 student, transferred to a new school halfway through the semester. He had trouble making friends until he discovered the school’s Facebook network. Most of the other students on Facebook responded to his “friend” requests and he soon began to feel more included, and made friends with some of them at school as well.

After a while, though, Scott noticed that his friends list was shrinking as people removed him from their friends lists. He was puzzled by this at first until one of his offline friends told him that Colin, a Grade 11 student, had gotten angry at Scott because he had seen Scott talking to Linda, Colin’s ex-girlfriend. Colin had begun to pressure everyone he knew to remove Scott and Linda from their friends lists on Facebook, and to ignore them at school as well.

One afternoon in the computer lab, Scott got more and more angry at Colin and his friends. Since he had finished his work for the period, he decided to start a Facebook group called “Why I Hate Colin,” and he invited everyone still on his friends list to join it. It turned out that there were quite a few people at the school who did not like Colin and his friends, and Scott’s group grew quickly. Whenever the message traffic on the group slowed, Scott would try to boost it by posting some shocking accusation about Colin, such as suggesting that he had cheated on Linda or that he had hit her when they were dating (Linda was not involved in the group, and had never said any such thing).

Soon other members of the group started to make their own accusations and suggestions about Colin, some even saying that Colin should have water balloons thrown at him when he went up the main stairway. Scott responded to that suggestion, saying rocks should be thrown instead.

After a few weeks, one of Colin’s friends discovered the group and reported it to him. Colin told his parents and they decided to report it to the principal and keep him out of school until things had been worked out, as well as to report what Scott had done to the police.

General Questions

• Who is the perpetrator in this case? Who is the target?
• What acts of cyberbullying have happened in this case? How serious would you rank each one as being?

Group Questions

• Scott: How can you defend your actions?
• Colin: Was what you did cyberbullying as well? If so, how can you accuse Scott? If not, why not?
• Colin’s parents: What should school and civil authorities do about this case? Why?
• Other members of Scott’s Facebook group: What can you do, and should you have done, in this case? Why?
• Teacher: What can you do, and should you have done, in this case? Why?
• Police: Should criminal charges be laid in this case? If so, which ones and why? If not, prepare an explanation for the target’s parents as to why not.