Juvenile Online Impersonation

A fake social media profile can be a third-degree felony in Texas. If your child is accused of online impersonation, learn what the State must prove and how a former judge builds the defense.

Juvenile Online Impersonation Charges in Texas

Fake accounts are everywhere in teenage life. Parody accounts about teachers, burner accounts to watch stories anonymously, joke profiles of friends. Most of it never becomes a legal matter. But when a fake account uses a real person's name or photos and things turn ugly, Texas has a statute that turns the situation into a felony, and school districts and police departments use it.​

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What Texas Law Prohibits

Section 33.07 of the Texas Penal Code, the online impersonation statute, has two parts.

The first makes it a third-degree felony to use another person's name or persona to create a web page or social media profile, or to post or message through one, without that person's consent and with intent to harm, defraud, intimidate, or threaten anyone.

The second part covers sending emails, texts, or similar messages that reference another person's identifying information, without consent and with intent to harm or defraud, and to make the recipient believe the message came from that person. That version is a Class A misdemeanor, rising to a felony when the intent is to summon an emergency response.

Notice what makes this offense serious: the profile version is a felony from the start. A fifteen-year-old who makes a fake account of a classmate and posts embarrassing content through it is exposed to the same charge level as serious adult offenses.

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The Intent Battle

The statute requires intent to harm, defraud, intimidate, or threaten, and that requirement is where the defense usually lives. Teenage impersonation accounts occupy a messy space between parody, prank, and cruelty, and the law does not criminalize bad taste. A parody account that no reasonable person would believe was real, a joke between friends that a third party reported, or an account made to be funny rather than harmful all raise serious questions about whether the State can prove the intent element beyond a reasonable doubt. Harm is also a legal concept here, not a feeling. Embarrassment and hurt feelings, standing alone, have limits as proof of intended harm.

Common Scenarios in Juvenile Cases

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• Fake profiles of classmates used in disputes between friend groups

• Parody accounts of teachers, coaches, or administrators

• Accounts created during breakups, sometimes by more than one person with access to shared photos

• Group-run accounts where identifying the actual creator is genuinely difficult

• Impersonation allegations layered on top of harassment or bullying claims arising from the same conduct

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How We Defend These Cases

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• Contesting attribution, because proving who created and ran an account requires more than screenshots and rumor

• Challenging the intent element head on, including through evidence of parody or joke context

• Examining whether the account actually used the complainant's name or persona as the statute defines it

• Suppressing device evidence obtained without proper legal process

• Pursuing resolutions that avoid a felony adjudication, including deferred prosecution and reductions

​​A felony charge for a fake Instagram account is exactly the kind of case where experience matters. Jerry Acosta has defended Texas juveniles for more than 20 years, served as a judge, and has been named a Super Lawyer 10 years in a row. If your child is accused of online impersonation, Contact Jerry Acosta Law today. The consultation is confidential, and the earlier we start, the more options your child has.

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