Cyberbullying in Malta: six victims this year, including a 13-year-old
Six cyberbullying victims were reported to Maltese police in 2026, three of them minors. Parliamentary figures reveal five victims were female and two cases have already resulted in legal action.
Six cyberbullying victims reported to police in 2026, three under 18
A 13-year-old is among six alleged cyberbullying victims identified by Maltese police so far this year, according to parliamentary figures reported by Times of Malta. The data was tabled in parliament on Wednesday by Home Affairs Minister Glenn Bedingfield in response to a question from Labour MP Romilda Zarb.
Zarb had asked how many cyberbullying cases had been reported to the police since the offence was introduced into the Criminal Code, with a breakdown by age and gender.
Three of the six alleged victims were minors. The youngest was 13, with two others aged 14. The remaining three victims were adults, aged 23, 40 and 42. Five of the six were female; the only male was the eldest victim, aged 42.
Bedingfield said four of the cases had been registered directly in the police force's electronic system, while two others came to light during investigations into separate offences. "Of these six cases, legal action was taken in two cases, while charges were brought in a third case," he said. "Investigations are still ongoing in the other three cases, although no legal action was taken in one of these cases."
Cyberbullying and cyberstalking were added to Malta's Criminal Code as specific criminal offences in the summer of last year. The law defines cyberbullying as threatening, intimidating, or using abusive or offensive language directed at another person via a computer, electronic communication device, or any other digital means. It also covers abusive or offensive acts carried out or directed at a person through such devices.
Historical figures show wider trend
Separate parliamentary figures shed light on the broader picture. In January, then Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri, responding to a question by Nationalist MP Bernice Bonello, provided data covering 2023 to 2025. At the time, Camilleri noted that earlier cases had been recorded under different classifications, as cyberbullying had only been designated a specific criminal offence months before.
His figures showed 47 cyberbullying cases in 2023, with victims ranging in age from 10 to 56. In 2024, 24 cases were recorded, involving individuals aged between 16 and 63. In 2025, the total stood at 25 cases, with the youngest individual aged 12 and the eldest 55.
168 school cases logged between 2020 and 2025
A further set of figures tabled in parliament reveals that 168 cyberbullying incidents were reported in schools between 2020 and 2025. Camilleri, now serving as Education Minister, provided these figures in response to another parliamentary question by Zarb, broken down by year and school type.
All 168 cases were submitted to the Anti-Bullying Service. The highest annual totals were recorded in 2020 and 2025, with 37 cases each year, while 2022 saw the lowest figure at 16.
Camilleri cautioned, however, that the figures may underrepresent the actual extent of the problem. Some incidents may have been reported directly to police or handled internally by individual schools without passing through the Anti-Bullying Service.
Church schools have not submitted cyberbullying reports to the State's Anti-Bullying Service since 2022. Cases from those schools are instead referred to services operated by the Church Schools Secretariat, meaning they fall outside the official tally.
Source: Times of Malta