Online harassment/malicious bullying by US citizen residing in Taiwan

The short answer is yes, a lawyer or a family member.

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Hope you’re able to teach this nobody a legal lesson.

Law aside, understand the psychology behind this type. They feel weak and powerless, this is how they try to assert some level of control over their lives. And they feed off thinking it gets to you.

Rest assured, if you see this individual for the primate they are, for their shenanigans, everyone else who witnesses what they’re up to also sees them for the primate they are.

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I have no advice to give but I do sympathize. I had some crazy Canadian guy come after me long ago, angry because I said some thing’s about his school’s recruiting process in Taiwan.

Lol. What did you say ?

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It was a while ago. As best I can remember, he was recruiting for a school in Taiwan from Canada, where he lived. He was making a lot of claims about Taiwan that simply weren’t true. Fact checking him on Facebook led to weeks of angry emails.

At the time I was using a fake name on Facebook. He reported this of course, having found out my real name from very easily discovered sources. I got locked out of my own Facebook account as a result. In the end I realized he did me a favor.

A similar thing happened to a friend of mine recently. She was on a dating app and was matched with a guy and after a few exchanges he seemed a little arrogant to her and she made a sarcastic remark about it. He responded with an obscenity. After a few unpleasant exchanges, his last sentence before she deleted the chat and blocked him was that he was going to tell everyone about her.

When she did a search on his name, apparently his real name, she came across his Facebook page with extracts from what he claims were words from the chat and her pictures all over it and he threatening to find where she works and saying he has posted her pictures and words on other sites. His Facebook friends encouraging and taking part in calling her names and other insults.

She is reluctant to do anything as she does not want to draw more attention to herself. I am of the opinion that she should pursue some legal action or even contact the police. I am sure there must some law about a situation like this.

An unpleasant private conversation on a dating app that nobody else is aware of is one thing, but using that as justification to plaster someone’s pictures all over the place and threatening and insulting them is something entirely different.

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A very unpleasant law for the guy. Could become expensive.

She could make lots of cash suing that idiot. Public defamation like that in Taiwan , very easy to win .

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Could he not use being ridiculed in a private online chat as justification for his actions?

No way, just sue his ass off.

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I did some research and it seems public defamation is a criminal offense! In that case should she not contact the police and provide them with evidence and let them investigate?

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Perhaps. It also depends on if Facebook will cooperate, and if they agree that this is a criminal matter. They will need all sorts of actual evidence: IP logged in from at the time those posts were put up, name attached to account, IP information from the actual Telcom, etc


Just because his name is on a Facebook account doesn’t mean there is evidence to prove he wrote these things (even if he did).

I think the bigger problem is what the actual definition of harassment is in Taiwan, whether this situation fulfills the requirements, and if a police officer will care enough to fully investigate the matter (in that this is a criminal case, not a civil one).

She definitely should pursue legal action against the guy.
But before that, she should check with a lawyer first, as @Marco once said:

(Biz card of his lawyer is above in the thread, in case you need)

Before pursuing though, she should make sure the account really belongs to that guy.

Next year stalking victims will have better protection.

After passage of the legislation, the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement that the new law, which will offer timely protection to stalking and harassment victims, will take effect six months after the law is formally proclaimed.

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What the OP described is a crime in Taiwan.

Sending threatening emails, posting of private information, encouraging self harm, etc. These are not protected speech anywhere, including the US.

He should be going to the police. Lawyer is not needed.

Perhaps there are the equivalent local law enforcement resource if the OP resides somewhere else outside of Taiwan


News when it was signed into law last December:

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First arrest on stalking

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