The use of electronic communication, particularly mobile phones and the internet, to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature. Online abuse is a larger term that may include cyber bullying, stalking, revenge, online defamation, leaking of private information and hacking.

It can take a number of different forms:

• Phone calls, threats and intimidation, harassment or ‘cyber-stalking’ (e.g. repeatedly sending unwanted texts or instant messages)
• Sexting (e.g. sending and receiving sexually explicit messages, primarily between mobile phones)
• The use of mobile phone cameras to cause distress, fear or humiliation
• Posting threatening, abusive, defamatory or humiliating material on websites, to include blogs, personal websites and social networking sites
• Hijacking/cloning e-mail accounts
• Making threatening, abusive, defamatory or humiliating remarks in social networks
• Vilification/defamation
• Exclusion/peer rejection
• Impersonation
• Unauthorised publication of private information /images
• ‘Trolling’ (abusing the internet to provoke or offend others online)