Privacy Law / Privaträtt
Can you escape responsibility for slander by "Only" sharing other people's posts on social media?
In Sweden there is right now a high-profile litigation case for slander, where a male media profile demands damages from a female media profile - based on the latter's allegations of rape on Social Media Channels.
The allegation is that the male media profile should have raped the female media profile several years ago. The male media profile was during that period tried in court, and freed of all charges. After years of quiet - during the MeToo wave – the female media profile accused the male profile for rape on her Instagram and in other Social Media forums. The allegations got extensive media buzz, and other profiles helped spread these allegations through their own (well-visited) Social Media Channels. Everything with the male media profile's full name disclosed.
The male media profile has stated that, if he wins the now ongoing litigation towards the female media profile that has publicly called him a rapist, he will most likely take it one step further and also press charges against the other celebrities that decided to take action and share posts from the female profile, thereby fuelling the accusation that he is a rapist.
Perhaps you can already sense where my opinion recides in this matter? Two wrongs never make a right. All the horrible truths behind MeToo scandals do not give any of us the right to make public claims that someone is a criminal, a rapist or what-have-you, by sharing what somebody else is stating as if it was the unchallenged truth.
The right to a private life is a fundamental human right. The right to be considered innocent until proven guilty is also a fundamental constitutional right. Spreading news about somebody’s (bad) persona in public risks having detrimental effects not only on that person but also on that person's closest – their wife, their children, their husband etc. It could mean them losing their job, being alienated from social life, having their car and house vandalized, and even them losing their will to live.
Hence, what we state, what we post, what we say, what we write comes with consequences and, in particular if we are so-called “influencers” and our words will reach many and/or have an impact on many – there is no substitute from taking responsibility and assess if and how the information we communicate about another person, if it has a valid foundation, and how it risks to impact that person's life.
Just saying.
The allegation is that the male media profile should have raped the female media profile several years ago. The male media profile was during that period tried in court, and freed of all charges. After years of quiet - during the MeToo wave – the female media profile accused the male profile for rape on her Instagram and in other Social Media forums. The allegations got extensive media buzz, and other profiles helped spread these allegations through their own (well-visited) Social Media Channels. Everything with the male media profile's full name disclosed.
The male media profile has stated that, if he wins the now ongoing litigation towards the female media profile that has publicly called him a rapist, he will most likely take it one step further and also press charges against the other celebrities that decided to take action and share posts from the female profile, thereby fuelling the accusation that he is a rapist.
Perhaps you can already sense where my opinion recides in this matter? Two wrongs never make a right. All the horrible truths behind MeToo scandals do not give any of us the right to make public claims that someone is a criminal, a rapist or what-have-you, by sharing what somebody else is stating as if it was the unchallenged truth.
The right to a private life is a fundamental human right. The right to be considered innocent until proven guilty is also a fundamental constitutional right. Spreading news about somebody’s (bad) persona in public risks having detrimental effects not only on that person but also on that person's closest – their wife, their children, their husband etc. It could mean them losing their job, being alienated from social life, having their car and house vandalized, and even them losing their will to live.
Hence, what we state, what we post, what we say, what we write comes with consequences and, in particular if we are so-called “influencers” and our words will reach many and/or have an impact on many – there is no substitute from taking responsibility and assess if and how the information we communicate about another person, if it has a valid foundation, and how it risks to impact that person's life.
Just saying.