Ontario Has A New Tort: Internet Harassment

"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes," ¹ writes lawyer Christina Wallis, borrowing a quote often attributed to Mark Twain, in responding to a vicious campaign of defamatory online posts that targeted Ms. Wallis and others.

Ms. Wallis is one of the many plaintiffs in the recent Ontario Superior Court case recognizing a new tort of internet harassment.

Caplan v. Atas,² a decision which was released on January 28, 2021, describes the defendant's "systematic campaigns of malicious falsehood,"³ spanning over 15 years, and canvassing "an ever-widening circle of victims."⁴ Some of the subjects of the defendant's online attacks were people she knew and against whom she harboured grievances, but many were people she did not know, who were the family members and colleagues of those against whom she wished to cause harm.