My son is a Twitter twit?

[tillamook]

My son picked a fight with someone who acts in movies but is in no way a celebrity. The things my son said online were vile and despicable and my wife and I will take him to counseling and punish him. The actor said they had contacted the cops. Now my wife and I are confused as to what we should do. There were a few tweets back and forth between the two of them, and while both of them were beyond rude, my son instigated the "fight" but never threatened the actor. Reading online here and elsewhere I have found a mixed bag of answers. Did my son commit a crime? The actor lives in another country. Would that impact a potential lawsuit or criminal charges? It's hard to see how the latter could be filed, but what sort of lawsuit could be brought by nasty tweets? This actor picks fights with a lot of Twitter users. What is the likelihood he will use whatever resources he has to track down my family, and how would he do that? Are their laws in place that protect my family's privacy?

[SteveO]

Did you son commit a crime by instigating an argument with someone? No, of course not. There is zero chance of a lawsuit since you can argue with anyone you want.

[Matthew]

Sounds like your son's tweeting partner was just having an all-too-common reaction, just blowing hot air in anger/frustration. The actor claiming "I called the cops" isn't the first time I have seen/heard something like that, and it is far from the last I expect. I would wager that claim is made 100's of times per day on the Internet by people who have maturity issues and found themselves angry/upset over absolutely silly things. It falls right in there with people who make ridiculous claims about their professional careers, such as being Navy Seals or Lawyers, when they get into arguments and are desperately trying to get some type of respect from random people on the Internet.

As far as legality goes, that would be up to local laws. If there was any valid concern, it would be either your son making a legitimate threat, or your son defaming the actor. In the case of having two separate countries for the two separate parties, it becomes even harder to figure out what "might" happen. Chances are extremely high that no law would make what your son did criminal. As far as civil (being sued), that would be a big hassle for the person who was coming after you and (depending on location) it is unlikely that a judge would award him anything. If something criminal or civil ends up happening, deal with it then. No point in worrying now over something so trivial as this situation is.

Go about your own family's business, getting your son on the right track as a human being, and let the other person deal with his own maturity issues. What your son tweeted may have been vile but anyone who reacts that way to a random person insulting them on the Internet, especially anyone who is in the public eye (regardless of how small of a celebrity he is, he is still a celebrity if he was in a movie, TV show, or even a local play), has issues that they need to get sorted themselves. His overreaction is not your responsibility.

It is great to hear that you are taking responsibility as a parent in teaching your son how to act respectful and hopefully he will grow into a mature adult. Good job and keep it up.