A 13-year-old was among six alleged cyberbullying victims identified by the police this year, according to figures tabled in parliament.
Home Affairs Minister Glenn Bedingfield provided the figures on Wednesday in response to a parliamentary question by Labour MP Romilda Zarb.
Zarb asked how many cyberbullying cases had been reported to the police since the offence was introduced into the Criminal Code, requesting a breakdown by age and gender.
The figures showed that half of the alleged victims were minors, with the youngest aged 13 and the other two 14.
The remaining three were aged 23, 40 and 42.
Five of the six alleged victims were female, while the eldest, aged 42, was the only man.
Bedingfield said four alleged cyberbullying cases had been registered in the police force’s electronic system, while another two emerged during investigations into other offences, bringing the total to six.
“Of these six cases, legal action was taken in two cases, while charges were brought in a third case. Investigations are still ongoing in the other three cases, although no legal action was taken in one of these cases.”
Cyberbullying and cyberstalking were introduced as criminal offences in Malta during the summer of last year.
Under the Criminal Code, cyberbullying includes when someone “threatens, intimidates or uses abusive or offensive words directed to the other person by means of the use of a computer or other electronic communication device or by any other digital or communication device whatsoever”.
It also covers instances when someone “performs abusive or offensive acts to the person or directs abusive or offensive acts towards the other person by means of the use of a computer or other electronic communication device or by any other digital or communication device whatsoever”.
During the previous legislature, Nationalist MP Bernice Bonello asked then home affairs minister Byron Camilleri how many bullying and cyberbullying cases had been reported between 2023 and 2025.
In January, Camilleri explained that such incidents had previously been recorded under different classifications, as cyberbullying had only been introduced as a specific criminal offence a few months earlier.
Figures he tabled showed that 47 cyberbullying cases were recorded in 2023, with the youngest individual aged 10 and the eldest 56.
Another 24 cases were recorded in 2024, with those involved ranging in age from 16 to 63.
In 2025, there were 25 cases, with the youngest individual aged 12 and the eldest 55.
Meanwhile, separate figures tabled in parliament showed that 168 cyberbullying cases were reported in schools between 2020 and 2025.
Camilleri, now Education Minister, provided the figures in response to another parliamentary question by Zarb, who requested a breakdown of cases by year and school type.
The highest numbers were recorded in 2020 and 2025, with 37 cases each year, while the lowest was in 2022, when 16 cases were reported.
All 168 cases were reported to the Anti-Bullying Service between 2020 and 2025.
However, Camilleri noted that other incidents might have been reported directly to the police or handled internally by the schools concerned, meaning the figures might not reflect the full extent of cyberbullying in schools.
Since 2022, Church schools have no longer submitted cyberbullying reports to the State’s Anti-Bullying Service. Instead, such cases have been referred to services established by the Church Schools Secretariat.
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