The short answer. If a person you can identify is harassing you online, you can ask a California superior court for a civil harassment restraining order under Code of Civil Procedure section 527.6. You file forms CH-100 and CLETS-001, the court decides on a temporary order within 24 hours, and a hearing follows. An order after the hearing can last up to five years. It restrains that person. It does not make a website remove anything.
What the order does
A civil harassment restraining order is a court order that protects you from a specific person. According to the Judicial Council information sheet CH-100-INFO (revised January 1, 2026), the court can order the person not to harass or threaten you, not to contact you or come near you, and not to have firearms, firearm parts, ammunition or body armor. You can ask for protection for people who live with you and for family members.
If the restrained person disobeys the order, call the police. They can be arrested and charged with a crime.
What the order cannot do
- It does not remove content. The order is aimed at a known person's conduct. It is not a way to make a website, platform or search engine take down posts. For that, see our guides on attack websites and removing content from Google.
- It cannot get you money. The court cannot order the person to pay money they owe you. That needs a separate civil lawsuit.
- It is not for family law orders. A civil harassment case cannot order someone out of your home or decide custody or support. If the person is a current or former partner or a close relative, ask the court's self help center whether a domestic violence restraining order (form DV-100) is the better fit.
What counts as harassment
Section 527.6 defines harassment as unlawful violence, a credible threat of violence, or a knowing and willful course of conduct directed at a specific person that seriously alarms, annoys or harasses that person and serves no legitimate purpose. The conduct must be the kind that would cause a reasonable person substantial emotional distress, and it must actually cause you substantial emotional distress.
A course of conduct is a series of acts over a period of time, however short, showing a continuity of purpose. The statute lists examples such as following or stalking, harassing phone calls, and sending harassing correspondence by any means, including email. Repeated messages and threats sent through social media or other online accounts can be part of a course of conduct when they meet this definition.
Two limits matter for online cases. First, constitutionally protected activity is not a course of conduct, so criticism, opinion and other protected speech is not harassment just because it is upsetting. Second, the judge must find harassment by clear and convincing evidence, a higher standard than in most civil cases. Whether posts made to other people, rather than messages sent to you, count as conduct directed at you depends on the facts, so bring evidence that shows the pattern and its effect on you.
You need to know who the person is
The order names a specific person, and someone must hand that person a copy before it can be enforced. If the harassment comes from an anonymous account, you may first need to identify who is behind it. Our guide on unmasking an anonymous poster explains how that works in California.
The forms
- CH-100, Request for Civil Harassment Restraining Orders. Fill out all of it.
- CLETS-001, Confidential CLETS Information. Fill out all of it.
- CH-109, Notice of Court Hearing. Fill out items 1 and 2.
- CH-110, Temporary Restraining Order. Fill out items 1, 2 and 3.
- MC-025 if you need attachment pages, and MC-030 for a witness's written statement under oath.
The forms are free on the California Courts self help site, and the information sheet is CH-100-INFO. Your county's self help center or a legal aid group may be able to help you fill them out.
Where to file
File in the superior court of the county where the harassment took place, where the person to be restrained lives, or where you live or are temporarily located. You do not need to live in California. At the courthouse, ask where civil harassment requests are filed and give your forms to the clerk.
Cost
There is no filing fee if the person used or threatened violence against you or stalked you. Otherwise you pay the filing fee. If you cannot afford it, ask the clerk about a fee waiver using form FW-001.
The timeline
- Temporary order. If you ask for a temporary restraining order, the court decides within 24 hours whether to grant it, sometimes sooner.
- Hearing date. The clerk gives you a hearing date on form CH-109. Under section 527.6, the hearing is generally held within 21 days of filing, or 25 days if the court finds good cause. A temporary order lasts until the hearing.
- Service. Someone age 18 or older, not you and not anyone else protected by the order, must personally give the person a copy of the papers. The server fills out form CH-200, Proof of Personal Service, and you file it with the court. The sheriff or marshal serves for free if the order is based on violence, a credible threat of violence or stalking, or if you qualify for a fee waiver.
- The hearing. You must go. The person may file a response and may attend. The judge decides whether to issue an order after hearing and can make it last up to five years. It can later be renewed for up to five more years.
Evidence for online harassment
The court needs more than your word. CH-100-INFO lists witnesses, written statements from witnesses made under oath, photos, medical or police reports, and threatening letters, emails or telephone messages. For online harassment, that usually means:
- Screenshots of messages, posts and comments that show the account name, date, time and URL
- Saved copies of emails and direct messages, kept in their original form
- Records that connect the account to the person, such as their own admissions or a court order identifying the account holder
- A short written timeline of each incident and how it affected your safety, work and health
- Witness declarations on form MC-030 from people who saw the conduct or its effect on you
When the order is not enough
Many people harmed by false posts find that the person behind them is anonymous, or that the posts stay up after an order is made. California has no fast, affordable way to have a court declare a specific post false so it can be taken down. Our proposal asks the Legislature to create one. If someone has posted your address or other private details, read our guide on doxxing and California law.