Cyberbullying: First enable protections, gather evidence, then choose between court injunctions, private prosecution, or police reports

37. Cyberbullying: First enable protections, gather evidence, then choose between court injunctions, private prosecution, or police reports

Cost: There’s no monetary cost. It takes just a few minutes on the spot to enable protections and collect evidence. If you end up needing a court injunction or filing a private prosecution, you’ll have to visit the court and may even need to hire a lawyer. The hardest part is documenting everything right away instead of retaliating with insults.

In plain terms: Do three things immediately: turn on all platform safety settings, use the platform’s quick evidence‑collection tools to preserve content, and file a report through the same quick access point. After that, you can pick one of three options. First, ask the court for a personal rights injunction to make the harasser stop. Second, file a private prosecution yourself; if gathering evidence proves difficult, you can request police assistance. Third, if the consequences are especially severe and the impact widespread, the case may be turned into a public prosecution so you won’t have to provide evidence yourself.

Benefit: Article 15 of Document No. 14 (2023) outlines how courts issue injunctions to protect personal rights. When a rights holder can prove that someone is currently committing or about to commit an act that infringes those rights, and failing to stop it would cause irreparable harm, the court may grant an injunction under Article 997 of the Civil Code. Such an injunction is a legal order forcing the offender to cease the behavior. Article 11 of the same document addresses evidence collection: in private prosecution cases, victims who struggle to obtain evidence may ask police for help; police must identify the perpetrator, gather data on how the content spread, and provide technical support to platforms. If evidence collected this way meets filing criteria, the court must accept the case. Article 12 lists five scenarios that qualify as “serious harm to social order” under Article 246, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Law, such as causing mental illness or suicide among victims, widespread vulgar comments, repeated defamation, coordinated posting across multiple platforms, or other grave consequences. Article 4 criminalizes “human flesh search” operations that illegally collect and distribute personal information. Regulation No. 23 of the Cyberbullying Governance Rules requires platforms to offer tools like blocking unknown or specific users, limiting post visibility, disabling reposts or comments, and controlling private messages. Article 25 mandates quick evidence‑collection features, Article 26 requires prominent reporting channels, and Article 15 obliges platforms to report suspected crimes to police promptly.

Evidence grade: A

Sources: Supreme People's Court of China, Supreme People's Procuratorate of China, Ministry of Public Security of China (2023). Guiding Opinions on Punishing Illegal Crimes of Internet Violence in accordance with the Law (Fafa [2023] No. 14, Articles 4, 11, 12, 15). <https://www.court.gov.cn/zixun/xiangqing/412992.html>; National People's Congress (2020). Civil Code (Article 997). Full text reprinted in Supreme People's Procuratorate of China <https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/fl/202006/t20200602_463888.shtml>; Cyberspace Administration of China, Ministry of Public Security of China, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, State Administration of Radio and Television (2024). Regulations on Internet Violence Information Governance (Articles 15, 23, 25, and 26, effective on August 1, 2024). State Council of China Bulletin <https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/2024/issue_11526/202408/content_6969181.html>

Notes: The order of options follows what’s fastest and cheapest: platform actions are quickest and cost nothing, so start by securing evidence and filing a report. Court procedures are the slowest and most expensive, so they’re a last resort. All associated costs fall on you. You must apply for the injunction yourself, and in private prosecutions you handle both filing and evidence gathering. Only if the case meets one of the five criteria in Article 12 can it be to a public prosecution. Two things to avoid: never retaliate with insults, as that could make you liable under Article 16; and never delete any content from your account, because it serves as evidence. If you feel overwhelmed, call 12356 as described in Section 1, Article 25. To request removal of your personal data, refer to Section 14, Article 8. Guidance on helping strangers who become victims is provided in [docs/Should you stop when you encounter a stranger and get into trouble.md](../../docs/research/Should you stop when you encounter a stranger and get into trouble.md).