Six months after a formal complaint was filed, the Toronto Police Service's Hate Crime Unit has yet to conclude its investigation into a series of publicly available, virulently antisemitic social media posts originating from a city resident. The delay has sparked criticism and raised questions about the effectiveness of police responses to online hate speech.
A Complaint Filed, Then Silence
In mid-July of 2025, Toronto resident Michael Teper encountered a disturbing collection of posts on the platform X, allegedly authored by another Toronto man using the handle @wpalczynski. The profile was linked to a LinkedIn account under the name Wojtek Palczynski. Alarmed by the explicit hate speech, Teper undertook the formal process of reporting it as a potential hate crime.
On July 20, after navigating the non-emergency phone system—a process he notes can take up to three hours—Teper met with two constables at his home. They filed an official report and provided him with an occurrence number for follow-up. However, no timeline for the investigation was given.
Minimal Updates and a Stalled Probe
Teper's sole communication from the specialized Hate Crime Unit came in mid-October, nearly three months later. Detective-Constable Shar Koushyar-Moghtader emailed to state he had been newly assigned the file and was reviewing the information, but offered no substantive update.
The detective indicated that while the unit had examined the documented evidence, they were awaiting a detailed report from the cybercrime unit regarding the posts from the account in question. Since that October email, Teper has received no further updates, leaving the status of the investigation unclear.
The Enduring Nature of the Online Hate
Despite the police report, the offensive content largely remained online for months. While some posts have since been deleted, it is unknown if this was due to police action, platform moderation, or the account holder. Examples of the hate speech shared with police included a post from May 2025 that referred to Jewish people as "vile creatures" and made abhorrent, false allegations. Another deleted post from December 2024 made a mocking reference to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.
The case highlights the challenges of policing digital hate. For victims and complainants like Teper, the protracted timeline—exceeding half a year with no resolution—undermines confidence in the system designed to protect communities from targeted hatred. The delay stands in stark contrast to the urgent threat posed by such radical extremist rhetoric, which can fester and spread rapidly online.
