Injure (public or private): what differences, what penalties?

Service-public.fr first recalls that an insult is a word, a writing, an expression intended to hurt or offend the person concerned. There are two types of insults:

• public insult that can be heard or read by a public (in the street, in a courtyard, on a website, on social networks...);
• the non-public insult (addressed directly by the perpetrator to the victim without any third party by means of a text message, for example, or uttered by the perpetrator before a small circle of persons with or without the victim).

In some cases, insults uttered on social media can be considered as non-public.

In the case of an insult, it is possible to file a complaint within a limited period after the fact, the limitation period being 1 year for insults of racist, sexist, homophobic or harmful type to persons with disabilities.