With the recent ruling n. 57764 of December 28^th 2017, the Fifth Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court has, once again, addressed the issue concerning the crime of stalking - ex art. 612 bis - c.p., when the harassing or behaviors typical of the said criminal offense are perpetrated through the use of new technologies or tools related to them.

In this case, the accused opened a Facebook profile called ''lapidiamo la rovina famiglie'' (n.d.r. let's stone the let’s stone the homewrecker) in which he had posted photos, videos and comments with more or less explicit references to his former lover, as a way of revenge because she had revealed to the wife the existence of the extramarital affair.

The claimant, among the motives raised against the ruling of the Court of Appeals that had confirmed the decision of the Ordinary Court, states that his behavior does not constitute this particular criminal offence, since the activity in question has been carried out through the use of Facebook.

However, in declaring the aforementioned reasoning as unfounded, the Supreme Court, after having reaffirmed that "messages or videos posted on social networks constitute the objective element of the crime of stalking [...]'', clarified that ''the harmful nature of these behaviors [...] is not so much forcing the victim to suffer offenses or threats by electronic means, as it is the spreading of data, whether it is true or false, highly damaging and a source of restlessness for the offended party ".

In the light of the forgoing, the judges have decided stating the irrelevance of the fact that the photos and videos could have been ignored by the victim by simply not accessing the profile, since the harmful behavior is attributable to the sole publication of those contents.

This ruling certainly deserves recognition for having helped prepare an incisive form of protection, in terms of prevention and law enforcement - the ordinary penalty imposed for the crime of stalking is fluctuating from a minimum of six months to a maximum of five years - for those who, given the particular pervasiveness of the Facebook wall, are exposed daily to public ridicule.