Our highly recognised Litigation Team has enjoyed
more success for clients in the High Court following clients being the subject
of defamatory tweets and facebook postings.
Defamatory
Comments on Social Media
Social media is a great medium for people and
society in general, but it is a uniquely effective breeding ground for
potentially libelous statements. Postings are often made with little
forethought or planning and in fits of anger and frustration – they can be
deleted, but very often not before they have been seen and noted by a multitude
of other users.
Countless people have learned to their dismay that
the internet allows people to speak their mind far too easily - It is full of
interesting places where someone could intentionally or accidentally leave
potentially defamatory comments or posts.
Just a few of these locations are:
- letters to the editor of local newspapers
- public comments on media (i.e., newspaper or magazine) web sites
- blogs and comments to blog postings
- social media like Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter
- chat rooms or list servers.
People may be of the opinion that any postings they
make are simply their opinion, but they will probably be seen by many readers as
statements of fact and so believed and passed on to others.
Injunction
Our Litigation Team immediately commenced High
Court proceedings seeking an injunction, damages and costs against a former
employee of our client who posted highly defamatory remarks that could be seen
publically, on both Twitter and Facebook, about our client and one of their
employees. The Court accepted that that the words used on the postings were
likely to cause a serious financial loss to our client – the response to the Facebook posts by other
users illustrated that statements had been taken at face value.
The Defendant has been ordered to permanently
delete three defamatory tweets and nine defamatory Facebook posts. The
Defendant must also refrain from publishing or causing to be published any
other online posts of this nature about our client and their employee.
Significant damages and costs were also awarded.
If you have been the subject of defamatory on line comments,
there is a real need to act quickly – we can offer the support and guidance
necessary in these stressful and upsetting circumstances. The Litigation team
have the resource and experience required to secure urgent injunctions at short
notice.
For those who wish to post something online that
can be widely viewed, you need to give it some serious thought first. Once you
have clicked “send,” you can’t take it back.
If you need advice or guidance on the matter please
contact our litigation team on 01603 666001 or email ph@rogers-norton.co.uk.
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