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Man Fined $4,000 For 'Liking' Defamatory Posts on Facebook (cnn.com)

Posted by msmash on from the know-your-rights dept.

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.

6 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. There go the mods by Ken_g6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't the Slashdot moderation system based on likes? If moderators can get sued for promoting a post, Slashdot isn't long for the Internet.

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  2. Only one word for this by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Thoughtcrime!

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    1. Re:Only one word for this by Aristos+Mazer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No. It is a crime because pushing the LIKE button spreads the message. It isn't just that you liked it, it is that you published it to your network. You helped spread a false and defamatory statement. It is not thoughtcrime at all. It is an actual crime of promoting a lie, something that is punishable under US law also. The only thing new here is ruling that the LIKE button is a form of publication ... which it is.

  3. Slashdot moderation no more for me by seoras · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I was about to start throwing my weight around in here, moderating up/down, but then I realised I could face legal consequences for endorsing anyones views. :-/

  4. Re:Read the summary by sconeu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And if he clicked "angry" or "sad", indicating he didn't like the news, He'd still be "intentionally distributing" it to everyone in his network.

    So even if he disapproved of the post and was angry about it, under your theory, he's still guilty.

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  5. Re:Read the summary by HalAtWork · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That may only be secondary to their intention, Facebook does a lot of weird stuff behind the scenes to create feeds and it's not always explicit as to what is the catalyst, and it may nor be the intention of the person, and may not be understood, that by using that function it will enact some other peripheral 'features'

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