Man convicted over Facebook likes in defamation case

[Judi Lynn]

Source: SwissInfo.ch (Swiss Broadcasting Corporation)

MAY 30, 2017 - 11:38


​​​​​​​In a landmark trial, a Swiss man has received a suspended sentence and a CHF4,000 ($4,000) fine in a defamation case which involved him “liking” Facebook posts that accused an animal rights activist of racism and anti-Semitism. 

On Monday, a Zurich district court found the 45-year-old defendant guilty of defamation. The Zurich man had accused Erwin Kessler, the president of the animal protection organisation “Verein gegen Tierfabrikenexternal link” and his association online of racism and anti-Semitism. 

The defendant had also liked six Facebook posts from other people that contained the inflammatory content, also commenting on and linking to several of the posts. 

The court said the inflammatory Facebook posts were unjustifiable. According to Judge Catherine Gerwig, such defamatory statements on the social media network violated Kessler’s honour. By clicking on a Facebook “Like” button, the defendant was endorsing the defamatory content and making it his own. 

Read more: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/man-convicted-over-facebook--likes--in-defamation-case/43218922

[Rollo]

1. If I rec this trhead, could I get sued? Oh, hell, I just rec'd it anyway...

[Judi Lynn]

4. Well, hop in!

[bucolic_frolic]

2. There are not enough

judges or lawyers in the world to adjudicate or even sort all the likes
and dislikes of posts in the world.

[silverweb]

3. Okaaayy...

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]So what about the people who originally wrote the inflammatory posts that he liked? Were they sued, too? There's a whole backstory here that we're not getting.

[IronLionZion]

5. We're missing most of the story, the important details

of what the hate content was, who created it, and so on.

[Egnever]

7. Yup this is clickbait.

[Honeycombe8]

6. Good. nt

[Judi Lynn]

8. Swiss man fined for defamatory Facebook 'Like'

A Zurich judge ruled that the act of 'Liking' a post accusing someone of racism was grounds for defamation
10:47 30 May 2017
James Dempsey



A 45-year-old man in Zurich has been found by the courts to have defamed a man accused of being a racist and anti-Semite by liking a number of accusatory posts on Facebook.

The offending ‘likes’ date from 2015 when the defendant, not identified by the courts, endorsed several Facebook posts produced by animal rights groups. The posts claimed that Erwin Kessler, the president of the animal welfare association Vereins gegen Tierfabriken, is a racist, anti-Semite, and fascist.

Kessler filed a case against the Zurich man, his legal team arguing that the act of ‘liking’ the posts attacking Kessler distributed the messages to a larger audience and that the 45-year-old had acted with intent to harm Kessler’s reputation and without justifiable cause.

During the trial, the defendant also stated on the record that he had wanted to promote and disseminate the posts when he ‘Liked’ them, reported Swiss paper Tages Anzeiger.

More:
http://www.newstalk.com/Swiss-man-fined-for-defamatory-Facebook-Like

[orleans]

9. just because i click LIKE on fb

doesn't always mean i'm agreeing with what the post or article says--
if someone posts an article that says trump is an asshole and i click like that doesn't mean i like trump being an asshole
(okay, bad example--but you know what i mean. sometimes i just like the fact that something got posted or is letting people know about it. i click like for postings on animal rescue shelters--doesn't mean i like the idea that the animal is homeless)

[Judi Lynn]

10. No kidding! Who knew people get wild over where one puts one's "likes"! n/t