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Man Fined $4,000 For 'Liking' Defamatory Posts on Facebook (cnn.com)
In what appears to be a first, a court in Switzerland has fined a man the equivalent of over $4,000 just for clicking the "like" button on what a judge said were defamatory Facebook comments. From a report: The court in Zurich found that the man indirectly endorsed and further distributed the comments by using the ubiquitous Facebook "like" button. The man, who was not named in the court's statement, "liked" several posts written by a third party that accused an animal rights activist of antisemitism, racism and fascism. In court, the man was not able to prove that the claims were accurate or could reasonably be held to be true. "The defendant clearly endorsed the unseemly content and made it his own," a statement from the court said. The court fined the man a total of 4,000 Swiss francs ($4,100). He has the right to appeal his sentence. Facebook said the case had "no direct link" to the company, and a spokesperson declined to comment.
Ok, is Switzerland, so maybe they have different laws from what I’m used to. But in the civilized world, we value free speech. The right to free speech often translates into the right to be a total asshole, but that’s the price we pay to ensure that well-meaning people don’t have their rights stomped on by a fascist government.
Now, speech can be INVOLVED in criminal behavior. For instance, libel and slander. These come down not to the speech but the consequences of the speech. You can “defame” a fictional character all you want, and you can say really asshole things about non-specific people.
In this specific case there’s this “third party” who said defamatory things about an animal rights activist — who are THEY? Why aren’t we hearing more about this third party? Why aren’t they in trouble? Why is some moron with a like button fined $4000 when the original defamer is left unscathed?
I’m really liberal, but this sounds like some of that SJW shit the conservatives are always going on about.
Jeez, dude. Forget about RTFA. How about RTFS: Read The Fucking SUMMARY?
The court in Zurich found that the man indirectly endorsed and further distributed the comments
Personally, I like the ruling. Slander is slander. Spreading false bullshit should be a punishable civil offense in the US, too.
I don't respond to AC's.
That's two words, even if you did put them very close together.
It is a neologism, from the novel 1984. They combined a lot of different words together.
The reference is to the concept that having a thought, or an opinion can be a crime.
And if it is a crime to push the "like" button on a facebook page, it fits thoughtcrime to a T. This crininal must utilize crimestop in the future to rid himself of his illegal thoughts and illegal opinions. Then he will not be guilty of his terrible crimes.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
The USA has freedom of speech and freedom after speech. The EU and nations in the EU area have lawyers and reports sent to governments when free speech is attempted. Wait for other nations to try out their blasphemy laws.
FYI - Switzerland is not part of the EU
. It is an actual crime of promoting a lie, something that is punishable under US law also.
No, it really isn't. We still have freedom of speech here. Even slander and libel aren't crimes, they are torts. Sure, there are laws governing how the civil case should be handled, if the damaged party cares to bring such a case, but that's different from criminal law.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.