How online 'campaign of cruelty' led to a real-world death

Article excerpt

A British court heard how Dylan Phelan, engaged in what prosecutors describe as an online "campaign of cruelty," encouraged Travis Dyer to end his life "out of morbid curiosity." The case examines how digital harassment escalated into real-world tragedy, raising questions about online accountability and the psychological mechanisms that drive such behavior. Phelan's actions crossed a critical threshold from cyberbullying into criminal incitement, prosecutors argued, demonstrating how anonymous cruelty on the internet can have fatal consequences.