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Last updated on Tuesday, June 4, 2013
(UNDATED) - The use of social media is forcing changes in Indiana law as police and prosecutors deal with comments on sites like Facebook.
A law taking effect July 1 makes it a crime to use social media sites to post threats. David Powell of the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council says that lawmakers expanded the intimidation statute to include social media after a person posted plans to shoot up a Hancock County hospital.
Prosecutors couldn't make a case because an individual wasn't threatened.
The new law makes it a class D felony if a social media threat targets a school, hospital or church employee and a class C felony if it targets prosecutors or court officials or interferes with the occupancy of a public building.
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