Amanda Michelle Todd (November 27, 1996 – October 10, 2012) was a 15-year-old Canadian student and victim of

cyberbullying Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers, as the digital ...

who hanged herself at her home in

Port Coquitlam Port Coquitlam ( ) is a city in British Columbia, Canada. Located east of Vancouver, it is on the north bank of the confluence of the Fraser River and the Pitt River. Coquitlam borders it on the north, the Coquitlam River borders it on the west, ...

, British Columbia. Before her death, Todd posted a video on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

in which she used a series of flashcards to tell her experience of being blackmailed into exposing her breasts via

webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in videotelephony, livestreaming and social media, and security. Webcams can be built-in computer hardware or peripheral ...

, and of being

bullied Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception (by the bully or by others) of an im ...

and physically assaulted. The video went viral after her death, resulting in international media attention. The video has had more than 14 million views as of February 2022. The

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

and British Columbia Coroners Service launched investigations into the suicide. In response to her death,

Christy Clark Christina Joan Clark (born October 29, 1965) is a former Canadian politician who was the 35th premier of British Columbia (BC), from 2011 to 2017. Clark was the second woman to be premier of BC, after Rita Johnston in 1991, and the first female ...

, then

Premier of British Columbia Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...

, made an online statement of condolence and suggested a national discussion on criminalizing cyberbullying. Also, a

motion In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and m ...

was introduced in the Canadian House of Commons to propose a study of the scope of bullying in Canada and for more funding and support for anti-bullying organizations. Todd's mother, Carol, established the Amanda Todd Trust, receiving donations to support anti-bullying awareness education and programs for young people with mental health problems. A Dutch-Turkish man, Aydin Coban, who was already imprisoned for sexual blackmail in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, was extradited to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

to face trial on charges of harassing and sexually extorting Todd before her suicide. On August 5, 2022 the jury found Coban guilty on all counts, and he was sentenced to 13 years in prison on October 14, 2022.

Background and suicide

On September 7, 2012, Todd posted a 9-minute

video titled ''My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self-harm'', which showed her using a series of

flashcards A flashcard or flash card (also known as an index card) is a card bearing information on both sides, which is intended to be used as an aid in memorization. Each flashcard bears a question on one side and an answer on the other. Flashcards are ...

to tell of her experiences being bullied., 7 September 2012, Retrieved 18 April 2014. The video went viral after her death on October 10, 2012, receiving over 1,600,000 views by October 13, 2012, with news websites from around the world linking to it. During the video, Todd writes that when she was in 7th grade (2009–10), around the same time she moved in with her father, she used

video chat Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio and video signals by people in different locations for real time communication.McGraw-Hill Concise Ency ...

to meet new people over the Internet and received compliments on her looks. After a stranger repeatedly asked her for over a year to bare her breasts, Todd did so on a webcam stream, and the person saved frames using screen capturing. He later blackmailed her by threatening to give the topless photo to her friends unless she gave him a "show". She also was featured briefly on the ''Daily Capper'' on

BlogTV BlogTV was a live-streaming video blog service reintroduced by MadCow Disease Media LLC, in January 2016. BlogTV was first established in Ramat Gan, Israel in January 2004 by founders Ilan Ben-Dov, Dan Chen, Guy Eliav, Nir Ofir, and Oren Levy ...

, a pedophile-run animated news show that tracked children who were groomed into flashing or sex acts on camera and encouraged their continued exploitation. An episode of ''Daily Capper'' a month after Todd's death claimed to oppose her abusers and reveal evidence that incriminates them. Todd wrote that during the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

2010 break, police informed her at 4:00 a.m. that the photo was circulating on the Internet. She wrote that she experienced

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...

, depression, and

panic disorder Panic disorder is a mental and behavioral disorder, specifically an anxiety disorder characterized by reoccurring unexpected panic attacks. Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear that may include palpitations, sweating, shaking, short ...

due to having been sexually exploited online and cyberbullied. Her family moved to a new home, where Todd said she began using alcohol and other drugs. A year later, Todd's blackmailer reappeared, creating a

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

profile that used the topless photo as its profile image and contacting classmates at her new school. Again, Todd was teased, eventually changing schools for a second time. She wrote that she began chatting to "an old guy friend" who contacted her. The friend invited Todd to his house, where they had sex while his girlfriend was on vacation. The following week, the boy's girlfriend and a group of about 15 others confronted Todd at school, shouting insults, with the boy's girlfriend punching her; Todd fell to the ground, then lay in a ditch, where her father found her. After the attack, Todd attempted suicide by drinking bleach, but survived after being rushed to the hospital to have her stomach pumped. "It killed me inside and I thought I was gonna actually die", Todd commented in her video. After returning home, Todd discovered abusive messages about her suicide attempt posted to Facebook. In March 2012, her family moved to another city to start afresh, but Todd was unable to escape the past. According to her mother, "Every time she moved schools he would go undercover and become a Facebook friend. What the guy did was he went online to the kids who went to

he new school He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

and said that he was going to be a new student — that he was starting school the following week and that he wanted some friends and could they friend him on Facebook. He eventually gathered people's names and sent Todd's video to her new school", including students, teachers and parents. Six months later, further messages and abuse were still being posted to

social networking sites A social networking service or SNS (sometimes called a social networking site) is an online platform which people use to build social networks or social relationships with other people who share similar personal or career content, interests, act ...

. With Todd's mental state worsening, she began to engage in

self-mutilation Self-harm is intentional behavior that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury and self-mutilatio ...

and

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...

. Despite taking her prescribed antidepressants and receiving counseling, she

overdosed A drug overdose (overdose or OD) is the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities much greater than are recommended.

and was hospitalized for two days. Todd was taunted by other students at her school for her low grades, a consequence of a

language-based learning disability Language-based learning disabilities or LBLD are "heterogeneous" neurological differences that can affect skills such as listening, reasoning, speaking, reading, writing, and math calculations. It is also associated with movement, coordination, and ...

, and for the time she spent in the hospital to treat her

severe depression Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Introdu ...

. "It didn't really help that after she got out of the hospital recently some kids started calling her 'psycho' and saying she had been in the crazy hospital," her mother said. "She went to the hospital, she had therapy, she had counseling, she was on a good track. On the day she gets out, that happens. I shake my head and I think, 'Are kids really that nasty, do they really not think, what if it was them?'" On October 10, 2012, at about 6:00 PM ( PDT), Todd's body was found

hanging Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging ...

at her home. At the time of her death, Todd was a

10th grade Tenth grade or grade 10 (called Year Eleven in England and Wales, and sophomore year in the US) is the tenth year of school post-kindergarten or the tenth year after the first introductory year upon entering compulsory schooling. In many parts of ...

student at CABE Secondary in Coquitlam, a school that caters to students who have experienced social and behaviour issues in previous educational settings.

Investigation, arrest, trial, and conviction

A preliminary investigation by British Columbia Coroners Service showed that Todd's death was a suicide. The cause of death was reported in some media as hanging, but the exact cause of death had not been released. The

(RCMP) and British Columbia Coroners Service put 20 full-time investigators on the case. The

Coquitlam Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the sixth-largest city in the province, with a population of 148,625 in 2021, and one of the 21 municipalities comprising Metro Vancouver. ...

and Ridge Meadows serious crime teams cooperated in a full investigation, conducting interviews and examining factors that might have contributed to Todd's death. Investigators reviewed content at social media sites and actively monitoring pages. The Canadian national organization Cybertip.ca reported having received a tip about Todd nearly a year before her suicide. The anti-child-exploitation group stated that, in November 2011, a concerned citizen reported that images of Todd were in circulation on the Internet. That information was provided to law enforcement and

child welfare Child protection is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of children in and out of the home. One of the ways to ...

agencies. According to the CBC news program '' The Fifth Estate'', the RCMP were repeatedly informed that Todd was being sexually extorted by an adult male, and in response the RCMP told the family there was "nothing that could be done" about it. According to the

Ontario Provincial Police The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is the provincial police service of Ontario, Canada. Under its provincial mandate, the OPP patrols provincial highways and waterways, protects provincial government buildings and officials, patrols unincorp ...

(OPP), however, the crime of

sextortion Sextortion (a portmanteau of '' sex'' and ''extortion'') employs non-physical forms of coercion to extort sexual favors from the victim. Sextortion refers to the broad category of sexual exploitation in which abuse of power is the means of coercio ...

can be investigated quite successfully. After an investigation by

's security unit, whose report was forwarded by U.S. authorities to the

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

attached to the British

National Crime Agency The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; human, weapon and drug trafficking; cybercrime; and economic crime that goes across regional and in ...

, and then to Dutch authorities, in January 2014 Dutch police arrested a man in a case involving multiple victims in the Netherlands, U.K., and Canada, having installed

spyware Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is software with malicious behaviour that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user—for example, by violating their priva ...

on his computers; "chilling" chat logs of extortion, numerous images of

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...

, and 5,800 bookmarked names that served as a database of potential victims and their social networks were found. In April 2014, it was reported that Dutch authorities charged a 35-year-old man of dual Dutch and Turkish citizenship (identified only as "Aydin C." in the Netherlands in accordance with Dutch privacy laws) with indecent assault and possession of child pornography. That same month, the RCMP announced that the man had been charged with

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

, internet luring, criminal harassment and possession and distribution of child pornography for his alleged offenses against Todd and other child victims. Todd's mother thanked police, but also said that she believed more than one person was involved. On January 28, 2015,

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca ...

said that Aydin Coban had written an open letter proclaiming his innocence. Dutch authorities dropped some child pornography charges in October 2015; Coban's case went to trial in February 2017, and concluded on March 16, 2017. He faced 72 charges of sexual assault and extortion in the Netherlands involving 39 alleged victims (34 young women and five men in countries as various as Britain, Canada, Norway and the U.S., some of whom had been harassed for years); eventually convicted and sentenced on the Dutch charges of internet fraud and blackmail, he faced five separate Canadian charges related to Todd (herself not one of the 39), and it was anticipated that he would be

extradited Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...

to Canada no sooner than the middle of 2018 whilst serving his Dutch sentence of 10 years and 8 months. Carol Todd expressed relief at the sentence. In December 2019, it was reported that Canadian authorities were preparing for the extradition. The extradition was delayed until December 2020, due to problems obtaining travel documents for Coban and his lawyer Robert Malewicz. The trial began in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on June 6, 2022. On August 5, 2022, the jury found Coban

guilty Guilty or The Guilty may refer to: * Guilt (emotion), an experience that occurs when a person believes they have violated a moral standard Law *Culpability, the degree to which an agent can be held responsible for action or inaction *Guilt (law) ...

of all charges. On October 14, 2022, Coban was sentenced to 13 years in prison by the presiding judge who used her discretion to add a year to the 12 years sought by the

Crown attorney Crown attorneys or crown counsel (or, in Alberta and New Brunswick, crown prosecutors) are the prosecutors in the legal system of Canada. Crown attorneys represent the Crown and act as prosecutor in proceedings under the Criminal Code and vario ...

, citing aggravating factors including the sophistication of the blackmail scheme, the widespread distribution of Todd's images, and Coban's lack of remorse.{{{Cite news , last=Little , first=Simon , date=October 14, 2022 , title=Judge sentences B.C. teen Amanda Todd's online tormentor to 13 years in prison , work=

Global News Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned- ...

, url=https://globalnews.ca/news/9199914/amanda-todd-aydin-coban-sentence-sextortion-trial-bc/ , access-date=October 15, 2022

Reaction

Todd's suicide received widespread international media coverage, much of which included a link to her YouTube video and an email address provided by the RCMP appealing for information from the public. Within 24 hours of the appeal, over 400 tips were received. The RCMP has stated that its investigation was hindered by the amount of false information in online postings after Todd's death, and by scams claiming to raise money for her family. On October 19, 2012, a series of vigils were held across Canada and internationally to remember Todd and other victims of bullying. A minute of silence was observed by a quarter of a million students in the

Toronto District School Board The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), formerly known as English-language Public District School Board No. 12 prior to 1999, is the English-language public-secular school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The minority public-secular franc ...

district. The same day, Todd's mother was a guest of the 2012

We Day We Day (stylized as WE Day) was an annual series of stadium-sized youth empowerment events organized by We Charity (formerly known as Free The Children), a Canadian charity founded by brothers Marc and Craig Kielburger. WE Day events host tens ...

event in Vancouver, a week after Todd's death. Bullying had been scheduled as a topic before Todd's death and was addressed by speakers Magic Johnson, musician and anti-bullying advocate Demi Lovato and British Columbia Premier

. Initially, Todd's mother was denied entry to an anti-bullying conference for fear that her presence would upset other attendees. The family was invited to attend later events. On November 18, 2012, 600 people gathered at a final farewell ceremony for Todd at

Red Robinson Show Theatre The Molson Canadian Theatre in Coquitlam, British Columbia is a 1,074-seat live event theatre adjoining the Hard Rock Casino Vancouver. The $20 million venue opened with a show by Little Richard on September 16, 2006, and was named for local radio ...

in Coquitlam, near her home. Carol Todd told the gathering that her daughter had left behind "a larger-than-life message that has sparked the world and has made it open its eyes, its ears and its hearts". Internet hacktivist group Anonymous alleged that a 32-year-old man was Todd's blackmailer and main tormentor. The group published the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

-area man's name and address on the Internet, resulting in the man's receipt of online threats of vigilante justice. After investigating the tip, police determined that the allegations were unfounded, and said that "false information that is being spread by people who appear to be trying to use Amanda's story to do harm or make a profit" was one of the challenges they faced.{{Cite news , last1=Shaw , first1=Gillian , last2=Sinoski , first2=Kelly , date=October 17, 2012 , title=B.C. man denies harassing Amanda Todd; RCMP say allegations are 'unfounded' , work=

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The new ...

, publisher=Postmedia Network Inc. , url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/denies+harassing+Amanda+Todd+RCMP+allegations+unfounded/7400309/story.html , url-status=live , access-date=January 27, 2013 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021230743/http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/denies+harassing+Amanda+Todd+RCMP+allegations+unfounded/7400309/story.html , archive-date=October 21, 2012 , df=mdy-all According to an interview with the ''

Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...

'', the publication of his identity on social media sites resulted in over 50 emails and thousands of Facebook death threats. A member of Anonymous had attempted to dissuade the group from publishing the information, saying that they had the right person but that the address belonged to someone else, not the target. '' Slate'' reported that the person who was responsible turned out to be 19, not 32.{{Cite news , last=Francis , first=Nathan , date=19 June 2013 , title=Amanda Todd Investigation: Police Say Anonymous Outed the Wrong Man , work=

Inquisitr Inquisitr, a website started in 2007 for news and entertainment stories, was relaunched in May 2011. It is owned and operated by Inquisitr Ltd. History The web domain for Inquisitr was registered in Iceland on August 6, 2007. The company was fo ...

, url=http://www.inquisitr.com/367540/amanda-todd-investigation-police-say-anonymous-outed-the-wrong-man/ , url-status=live , access-date=December 23, 2012 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121225005441/http://www.inquisitr.com/367540/amanda-todd-investigation-police-say-anonymous-outed-the-wrong-man/ , archive-date=December 25, 2012 , df=mdy-all{{Cite news , last=Woo , first=Andrea , date=October 17, 2012 , title='Hacktivist' group names second person in Amanda Todd case , work=

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

, location=Toronto , url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/hacktivist-group-names-second-person-in-amanda-todd-case/article4619867/ , url-status=live , access-date=December 23, 2012 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121222190944/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/hacktivist-group-names-second-person-in-amanda-todd-case/article4619867/ , archive-date=December 22, 2012 , df=mdy-all

Mainstream media

Michelle Dean of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' compared Todd's death to the

suicide of Tyler Clementi Tyler Clementi (December 19, 1991 – September 22, 2010) was an American student at Rutgers University–New Brunswick who jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River at the age of 18, on September 22, 2010. On S ...

, an

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

student at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

who jumped to his death from the

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee, New Jersey, with Manhattan in New York City. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the United S ...

after his roommate encouraged friends to watch a live stream of Clementi kissing another man. In an early piece questioning the assumptions of perpetrators of nonconsensual pornography, she quotes Mary Anne Franks:{{quote, Women have become, as Franks put it, "unwilling avatars", unable to control their own images online, and then told to put up with it for the sake of "freedom", for the good of the community. And then they are incorrectly told, even if the public is behind them, that they have no remedies in the law. They are shouted down by people with a view of freedom of speech more literal than that held by any judge. and concludes:{{quote, ... utwhatever Amanda Todd might have been thinking, whatever else might be true, she did get one thing out of this: Amanda Todd did manage to, just once, tell her own story. She got to drown out the version of her that strangers had put out on the Web. It's a small comfort. But it was perhaps the only one she had left. ''

Vancouver Magazine ''Vancouver Magazine'' is an English-language lifestyle magazine focused on Vancouver, British Columbia and the Lower Mainland. ''Vancouver Magazine'' describes its mission as informing, guiding and entertaining residents of a "dynamic, internat ...

'' titled a piece on Todd "The Girl Who Woke Up the World"; in 2012 she was the third-most

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

d person, and by 2013, vigils had been held in 38 countries. Her mother continues to be the subject of cyber-stalking.{{Cite news , date=2016-10-01 , title=The Girl Who Woke Up The World: Amanda Todd , work=

, url=http://vanmag.com/uncategorized/the-girl-who-woke-up-the-world-amanda-todd/ , url-status=live , access-date=2016-09-12 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170503011657/http://vanmag.com/uncategorized/the-girl-who-woke-up-the-world-amanda-todd/ , archive-date=May 3, 2017 , df=mdy-all

Social media

After Todd's suicide, more than one million Facebook users "liked" her Facebook memorial page. Mingled among the positive support and comments are attacks and images from strangers and people claiming to be her former classmates. After one man's derogatory Facebook comments about Todd's death were reported to his employer, the

Grafton-Fraser Grafton Apparel Ltd. is a leading Canadian seller of men's apparel. Grafton Apparel Ltd. operates through its retail chains, Tip Top Tailors, George Richards Big and Tall, Mr. Big & Tall, and Kingsport Clothiers, which are located coast to coast ...

Mr. Big & Tall clothing chain, it was confirmed that he was no longer an employee. On October 19, 2012, police in New Zealand said they were questioning a 17-year-old boy from Raglan who allegedly posted "inappropriate and disturbing images" on a memorial page for Todd. Police removed the images and shut down the boy's Facebook page.{{Cite news , date=October 19, 2012 , title=Police question New Zealand teen over Amanda Todd images , work= BNO News , url=http://www.bnowire.com/?p=835 , url-status=dead , access-date=October 20, 2012 , archive-url=https://archive.today/20130118074406/http://www.bnowire.com/?p=835 , archive-date=January 18, 2013 Todd's suicide engendered the ''Drink Bleach'' Internet meme almost immediately, a meme her mother regarded as unhelpful to those at risk.{{Cite news , last=Garossino , first=Sandy , date=2013-08-08 , title=Time to rip the mask of anonymity off online trolls , work=

The Vancouver Observer ''The Vancouver Observer'' is an independent online newspaper. The site was founded in 2006 by journalist Linda Solomon as an online platform for Vancouver bloggers, writers, reporters, photographers and filmmakers. Novelist Ruth Ozeki was inv ...

, url=http://www.vancouverobserver.com/life/technology/planet-trolls , url-status=live , access-date=2016-09-16 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913195250/http://www.vancouverobserver.com/life/technology/planet-trolls , archive-date=September 13, 2016 , df=mdy-all Four years after her death, she was associated with the 2016 movie ''

Suicide Squad The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cre ...

'' (along with

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

and Kurt Cobain in one depiction).{{Cite news , last=Burgmann , first=Tamsyn , date=2016-08-08 , title=Internet meme for Suicide Squad film ridicules Amanda Todd's death, mom says: Carol Todd says she has shared the images to build awareness and discussion , work= CBC , agency=

The Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; french: La Presse canadienne, ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for the time's Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Pre ...

, url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/suicide-squad-amanda-todd-1.3712615 , url-status=live , access-date=2016-09-16 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912052130/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/suicide-squad-amanda-todd-1.3712615 , archive-date=September 12, 2016 , df=mdy-all

Amanda Todd Legacy Society

Carol Todd established the Amanda Todd Trust at the Royal Bank of Canada, receiving donations to support anti-bullying awareness education and programs for young people with mental health problems. (A week after Todd's death,

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

reported that fraudulent websites had been set up claiming to solicit donations, quoting a statement by RCMP Sergeant Peter Thiessen: "Taking advantage of a family's grief is despicable...We want to get the word out that there is one real account and anyone who is interested can make a donation at any RBC branch to the Amanda Todd Trust Account.") It has since been incorporated as a nonprofit colloquially known as Amanda Todd Legacy, with a particular outreach on the mental health issues of adolescents on occasions such as

World Mental Health Day World Mental Health Day (10 October) is an international day for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy against social stigma. It was first celebrated in 1992 at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health, a global ...

on October 10.{{Cite web , title=Carol Todd wants you to #LightUpPurple for World Mental Health Day , url=http://org.kidshelpphone.ca/carol-todd-wants-you-to-lightuppurple-for-world-mental-health-day/ , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919132912/http://org.kidshelpphone.ca/carol-todd-wants-you-to-lightuppurple-for-world-mental-health-day/ , archive-date=September 19, 2016 , access-date=2016-09-13 , publisher=

Kids Help Phone Kids Help Phone (french: Jeunesse, J’écoute) is a Canadian charitable organization that provides online and telephone counselling and volunteer-led, text-based support in English and French to youth across Canada. Kids Help Phone also prov ...

, df=mdy-all The Amanda Todd Legacy Award was established in conjunction with the

Douglas College Douglas College is the largest public degree-granting college institution in British Columbia, Canada. Close to 17,000 credit students, 8,500 continuing education students and 4,210 international students are enrolled here. Douglas College of ...

Foundation in 2016; three students are awarded $1,000 annually toward their studies.{{Cite news , last=Strandberg , first=Diane , date=2016-10-26 , title=New Amanda Todd award for DC students: $1,000 award will be given to students enrolled in child and youth care program in recognition of Port Coquitlam teen and mental health issues , work=

Tri-City News The ''Tri-City News'' is a weekly community newspaper based in Port Coquitlam and published by Glacier Media, and serving the Tri-Cities region of British Columbia's Lower Mainland since 1985. The ''Tri-City News'' has more than 100,000 print r ...

, url=http://www.tricitynews.com/news/new-amanda-todd-award-for-dc-students-1.2078111 , url-status=live , access-date=2016-09-13 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919082350/http://www.tricitynews.com/news/new-amanda-todd-award-for-dc-students-1.2078111 , archive-date=September 19, 2016 , df=mdy-all Amanda Todd Legacy and Carol Todd have also participated in

advocacy under the aegis of

, Canada's 24-hour hotline for youth in crisis.{{Cite news , last=Langley , first=Alison , date=2015-07-17 , title=Everyone Can Made A Difference , work=

Niagara Falls Review The ''Niagara Falls Review'' is a daily newspaper distributed in Niagara Falls and also serving the nearby towns of Fort Erie and Niagara-on-the-Lake area in Ontario, Canada. The paper is owned by Metroland Media Group, a subsidiary of Torstar. ...

, url=http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2015/07/17/everyone-can-make-a-difference , url-status=live , access-date=2016-09-13 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923132513/http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2015/07/17/everyone-can-make-a-difference , archive-date=September 23, 2016 Carol Todd is close friends with Leah Parsons, the mother of Rehtaeh Parsons, and they frequently network on cyberbullying issues. The two women often have speaking engagements about their respective daughters with an emphasis on respect, acceptance, forgiveness and dignity.{{Cite news , last=Taber , first=Jane , date=2014-04-12 , title=Forged in sadness, grieving mothers find friendship , work=

, url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/forged-in-sadness-grieving-mothers-find-friendship/article17948255/ , url-status=live , access-date=2016-09-13 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920061807/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/forged-in-sadness-grieving-mothers-find-friendship/article17948255/ , archive-date=September 20, 2016 , df=mdy-all On March 24, 2018, composer

Jocelyn Morlock Jocelyn Morlock (born 1969) is a Canadian composer and music educator based in Vancouver. Her piece ''My Name is Amanda Todd'' won the 2018 Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year. Early life and education Morlock was born in Saint B ...

won the Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year for a piece inspired by Amanda Todd; she was joined onstage by Carol Todd.{{Cite news , date=2018-03-24 , title=Jocelyn Morlock wins Classical Composition of the Year , work= CBC , url=http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1194428995571 , url-status=live , access-date=2018-03-26 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330060836/http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1194428995571 , archive-date=March 30, 2018 , id=Juno Gala Dinner & Awards

Legislative impact

In 2012 parliamentarian

Dany Morin Dany Morin (born December 19, 1985) is a Canadian businessman and former politician, who served in the House of Commons of Canada from 2011 to 2015. He represented the electoral district of Chicoutimi—Le Fjord as a member of the New Democrat ...

of the New Democratic Party introduced a

in the House of Commons of Canada in response to Todd's death. The motion proposed a study of the scope of bullying in Canada, and more funding and support for anti-bullying organizations. It was also intended to lay the groundwork for a national strategy to prevent bullying. Morin himself had experienced bullying in school.{{Cite news , last= , date=October 14, 2012 , others=Omar Sachedina , title=In wake of Amanda Todd suicide, MPs to debate anti-bullying motion , url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/in-wake-of-amanda-todd-suicide-mps-to-debate-anti-bullying-motion-1.995254 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029213910/http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/in-wake-of-amanda-todd-suicide-mps-to-debate-anti-bullying-motion-1.995254 , archive-date=October 29, 2013 , access-date=October 17, 2012 , work=

CTV News CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national ...

, df=mdy-all In November 2013 Justice Minister

Peter MacKay Peter Gordon MacKay (born September 27, 1965) is a Canadian lawyer and politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2015 and has served as Minister of Justice and Attorney General (2013–2015), Minister of National Defence (2007� ...

of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

introduced Bill C-13, anti-cyberbullying and revenge porn legislation. Carol Todd criticized its warrantless access provisions, saying, "I don't want to see our children victimized again by losing privacy rights".{{Cite news , last=Boutilier , first=Alex , date=2014-04-13 , title=Amanda Todd's mother raises concerns about cyberbullying bill: Families of cyberbullying victims want legislation, but some have concerns about warrantless access to Canadians personal data. , work=

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...

, url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/05/13/amanda_todds_mother_raises_concerns_about_cyberbullying_bill.html , url-status=live , access-date=2016-09-12 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028011059/https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/05/13/amanda_todds_mother_raises_concerns_about_cyberbullying_bill.html , archive-date=October 28, 2016 , df=mdy-all{{Cite web , last=Todd , first=Carol , date=2014-05-14 , title=Carol Todd's Testimony regarding Bill C-13 , url=https://openparliament.ca/committees/justice/41-2/24/carol-todd-1/ , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918140017/https://openparliament.ca/committees/justice/41-2/24/carol-todd-1/ , archive-date=September 18, 2016 , access-date=2016-09-12 , publisher=OpenParliament , df=mdy-all The definition of cyberbullying itself has been a matter of considerable debate,{{Cite news , last=Quigley , first=Joseph , date=2016-02-29 , title=Cyberbullying creating difficult questions for legal system: Victims' advocates calling for new cyberbullying laws, but pinning down broad term difficult , work= CBC , url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/cyberbullying-law-1.3442677 , url-status=live , access-date=2016-09-12 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160924081034/http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/cyberbullying-law-1.3442677 , archive-date=September 24, 2016 , df=mdy-all as have the

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

's privacy provisions (particularly in regard to

encryption In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can de ...

technologies).{{Cite news , last=Powers , first=Lucas , date=2016-02-19 , title=Apple's encryption battle with the FBI could spill into Canada: U.S. legal fight will be closely watched north of the border , work= CBC , url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/apple-encryption-privacy-security-1.3452630 , url-status=live , access-date=2016-09-12 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027234946/http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/apple-encryption-privacy-security-1.3452630 , archive-date=October 27, 2016 , df=mdy-all It went into effect on March 9, 2015.{{Cite news , last=Puzic , first=Sonja , date=2015-03-09 , title=Anti-cyberbullying law, Bill C-13, now in effect , work=

, url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/anti-cyberbullying-law-bill-c-13-now-in-effect-1.2270460 , url-status=live , access-date=2016-09-12 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920192357/http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/anti-cyberbullying-law-bill-c-13-now-in-effect-1.2270460 , archive-date=September 20, 2016 , df=mdy-all It had largely been promoted as protecting minors, but applies to all ages.{{Cite news , last=Montgomery , first=Marc , date=2016-04-30 , title=Canada's cyberbullying and revenge porn law applies to adults too , work=

Radio Canada International Radio Canada International (RCI) is the international broadcasting service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Prior to 1970, RCI was known as the CBC International Service. The broadcasting service was also previously referred to as ...

, url=http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2015/04/30/canadas-cyberbullying-and-revenge-porn-law-applies-to-adults-too/ , url-status=live , access-date=2016-09-12 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912032420/http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2015/04/30/canadas-cyberbullying-and-revenge-porn-law-applies-to-adults-too/ , archive-date=September 12, 2016 , df=mdy-all

Notes

{{notelist

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

Amanda Todd Legacy
– Official website administered by Todd's family * {{YouTube, vOHXGNx-E7E, ''My story: Struggling, bullying, suicide, self-harm''}
Archived

Transcript of YouTube videoArchived
* {{cite episode, title=The Sextortion of Amanda Todd, url= http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/2013-2014/the-sextortion-of-amanda-todd, series= The Fifth Estate, network=

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

, date=15 November 2013, season=39 * {{IMDb name, 5331599, Amanda Todd * {{findagrave, 128393627, Amanda Michelle “Manda” Todd
Carol Todd's oral testimony regarding Bill C-13Archived

English text of Bill C-13Archived
{{Bullying {{DEFAULTSORT:Todd, Amanda, suicide of 2012 in British Columbia Bullying and suicide Deaths by person in Canada Port Coquitlam Sexuality and computing Youth suicides Victims of cyberbullying Suicides by hanging in Canada Suicides in British Columbia Internet-related activism