Mother Sues After Bebo Story Hits Press

slick_shoes notes a story out of England: a woman named Amanda Hudson is suing six national newspapers for defamation and breach of privacy after they ran stories based on her 15-year-old daughter's exaggerated claims about her party, published on her Bebo site. The party was held at the family's £4m villa in Spain, and the daughter's account claimed that jewelery had been stolen and furniture and a television set thrown into the swimming pool; in addition there were claims of sex and drug use. The mother says that this was all falsehood and exaggeration. A number of newspapers picked up claims and photos from Bebo and ran them nationally. From the article: "The case is expected to have far-reaching consequences for third parties who use or publish information from social networking sites. Lawyers say it could place a duty on all second-hand users to establish the truth of everything they want to republish from such sites."

Comments

Editors?

[TheSkyIsPurple]

> Lawyers say it could place a duty on all second-hand users to establish the truth of everything they want to republish from such sites

Isn't that what newspaper reporters and editors are for?

Re:Editors?

[spun]

Fact checking is so last century. In the NEW and CONNECTED world of WEB 2.0, flash-mobs in the blogosphere fact check everything for you!

Re:Editors?

[Spuds]

You'd think that having incorrect information would tend to dissuade customers from parting with their money

You'd think, but sadly, no.

Re:Editors?

[Bloke down the pub]

You'd think that having incorrect information would tend to dissuade customers from parting with their money

If that was true most of the tabloids would have gone bankrupt years ago.

typical irresonsible parent

[speedtux]

The only relevant fact that newspapers needed to check was that it was actually the 15-year old daughter that put it up for the world to see. Other than that, as the legal guardian, if the mother didn't want her daughter to post this information, she should have been a better parent.

There might actually be a case others have against the mother for defamation of character, since she is responsible for the actions of her daughter, and her daughter might have defamed them.

I wish parents would stop blaming other people for their own failings. Until their children come off age, what the kids do and what happens to the kids is the parents' sole responsibility.

Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom to BS

[Madman]

Newspapers have always had the responsibility to verify their stories, why should that change simply because the information's off the web?

Re:Rich teenage girl parties are news?

[pha7boy]

The fact that newspapers published the account is not "news for nerds." The story is just background for what actually is important news - namely that there could be precedent in the UK for holding news organizations accountable for publishing second hand information without fact checking.

I wonder if the "compromise" will be that from now on newspapers will add "as reported on [insert blog name here]" on every such story meaning that they would pass responsibility for accuracy to the original source.