It is 2025 and the internet is a major factor in our lives. It is far past the time to close the loophole and ensure that threats made online or in group texts are taken seriously under the law. Pass SB1271

Threats need to be taken seriously, especially death threats. No one should be able to hide behind a keyoboard. People need to be held accountable for their words & there has to be consequences for them. Mental & physical health are important & someone shouldn't be able to threaten either of them.

Please close this loophole in our policies to protect everyone from Online threats

Please approve this bill to protect people from cyberbullying, threats. etc.

Please find attached my Victim Impact Statement, written as a mother of a child profoundly affected by a dangerous loophole in our current legislation. Under the outdated 1998 statute, law enforcement is unable to arrest or prosecute perpetrators unless a direct threat is sent specifically to the victim's device. This fails to account for modern technology, including social media and group text messages, which are not legally considered “direct communication” under the current law. This gap in the law had devastating consequences for my daughter. Threats to dismember her and send me her remains in vials were shared in a group text—messages I only discovered because a concerned parent of another child included in the conversation alerted me. Despite the severity of these threats, law enforcement was powerless to act. As a police captain explained to us, he regularly has to tell parents and teenagers that his hands are tied simply because no one has taken the initiative to update this law. The time to act is now. We must protect the physical and mental well-being of Virginians by closing this loophole. I have included screenshots of the messages in my Victim Impact Statement for your review. I urge you to take this critical step in ensuring that our laws reflect the realities of modern communication and provide law enforcement with the necessary tools to intervene before threats escalate into tragedy. Thank you for your time and consideration.

The feedback strongly advocates for the passage of this legislation, highlighting a personal experience in which I was harassed online and unable to receive help from law enforcement. The police could not intervene because the threats were made publicly on social media rather than directly to the my personal device. This experience underscores the inadequacies of current laws to address modern online harassment. The feedback emphasizes that cyberbullying is a serious issue that affects individuals across all demographics. The proposed legislation would expand the scope of cyberbullying laws to include harassment in public digital spaces, ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable regardless of the platform. It calls for a balance between protecting free speech and preventing harmful online abuse, asserting that the law should shield victims from harassment without limiting legitimate discourse. I urge you to act swiftly in passing the bill, stressing that cyberbullying has a real emotional impact on its victims and that the digital world must be a safer space. Ultimately, the feedback advocates for justice and protection, ensuring that those who face online abuse can seek help and that online cruelty will no longer be tolerated.

See attached letter