Liable for things written on social networks

[ESP]

Does any know the laws / in's and outs of Social media (for example Facebook) ?

A friend of ours has been accused of a crime by someone in this other persons Facebook status, and the person accusing has suggested that all her friends copy and paste this status which they have been doing.

This might sound a little childish but both parties have several thousand work related contacts/friends on their facebook, the usual click on 'Report' has been done, but the guy involved (and its shocked me enough) wants to (if possible) take this matter further. Its a Cyber bullying to the highest degree as it will effect reputation and the guys career, not to say that he's devastated as well.

Just wondering if anyone can throw any light on this kind of issue??

 

[Adamski]

In extreme cases, where it could be proved that a loss/damage has been suffered as a result, you could have grounds for a libel case.

It's quite complicated. Celebrities are resorting to libel cases more often now due to improper use of twitter etc

 

[lacroupade]

People have been successfully prosecuted for using Twitter to racially abuse - the fact its on a social network makes no difference whatsoever.

I'm sure any lawyer on here would say that this is a clear case of libel with the best evidence you could wish for. But depends if the defendant is a person of straw as to the worth of pursuing it.....might be easier to just report to Facebook.

 

[Adamski]

People have been successfully prosecuted for using Twitter to racially abuse - the fact its on a social network makes no difference whatsoever.

I'm sure any lawyer on here would say that this is a clear case of libel with the best evidence you could wish for. But depends if the defendant is a person of straw as to the worth of pursuing it.....might be easier to just report to Facebook.

Whilst I agree about racial abuse - racism is a separate offense under statutory law.

Telling a porkie pie on Facebook or Twitter is different. Libel (writing porkie-pies about someone, resulting in damage to that person's reputation) used to be a matter for criminal courts, but is now a civil matter. Normally you would need evidence of loss or damage. You could then sue the other party for damages. There's also a requirement to prove that who ever told the porkie-pie did it maliciously to cause damage. Otherwise, every non truth written could be subject of a libel case. The tricky/complicated bit is - proving that whoever wrote the porkie-pie did it on purpose...

As mentioned, it's probably easier to report it to Facebook

EDIT - Can't spell, now fixed

 

[lacroupade]

People have been successfully prosecuted for using Twitter to racially abuse - the fact its on a social network makes no difference whatsoever.

I'm sure any lawyer on here would say that this is a clear case of libel with the best evidence you could wish for. But depends if the defendant is a person of straw as to the worth of pursuing it.....might be easier to just report to Facebook.

Whilst I agree about racial abuse - racism is a separate offense under statutory law.

Telling a porkie pie on Facebook or Twitter is different. Libel (writing porkie-pies about someone, resulting in damage to that person's reputation) used to be a matter for criminal courts, but is now a civil matter. Normally you would need evidence of loss or damage. You could then sue the other party for damages. There's also a requirement to prove that who ever told the porkie-pie did it maliciously to cause damage. Otherwise, every non truth written could be subject of a libel case. The tricky/complicated bit is - proving that whoever wrote the porkie-pie did it on purpose...

As mentioned, it's probably easier to report it to Facebook

EDIT - Can't spell, now fixed

I totally agree with that - they are the basics around any libel suit, but my point is, it makes no difference whether its in a newspaper or on internet social media...the latter can just be harder in terms of nailing down the perpetrator.

 

[bigshurv]

Why any sane human being wants anything to do with those dreadful websites is beyond me.This just proves how dangerous and loopy they are.Anyone can say anything about anyone,anytime.Plain barmy. I was on facebook for about a month 3 years ago, and deleted my profile very quickly after observing the goings on. it's open warfare on there with few controls and even less privacy or safety.Madness.

 

[SimonJ]

Generally speaking inferring (imputing) that someone is guilty of a criminal offence is libel/defamation (depending on the medium). For it to be actionable, this statement would need to be made to a thrid party - in this case those on facebook. On the facts therefore it looks likely that he would have a very good case against this person. The person making the statment would be able to then defend his statement using one of the defences available for making the imputation - most notable would be 'truth' i.e that the statement is in fact true, the person did commit a crime. Others include it already being public knowlege or in the public interest etc. (i.e if it is true and he did commit a crime there is not much you can do)

Your friend should get copies of everything and seek to instruct a solicitor - as much as anything else, the amount of damages you can claim from the other side can be pretty substantial especially as you are affecting this person's career so the threat of this might be enough to get the other guy to back down.