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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.

17 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. Good by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Everyone who uses Facebook should be fined $4000.

    1. Re:Good by Sperbels · · Score: 4, Funny

      Like

  2. Who Will Think Of The Bots? by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 3, Funny

    Who will think of the bots this will dramatically impact?

    When Russian bots dream, they dream of oil burning sheep.

    Think on them, before you fine too much.

    Vast herds of Russian bots might go hungry, unable to pay their fines.

    Will you help them?

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    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  3. That's a lot of value judgement... by supernova87a · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ... for a court to be putting into a "like" button.

    For one thing, does "liking" using the button imply endorsement? Does "like" mean what they think it means? Or was the person's intention? And what if it was inadvertent clicking?

    What if the button was called "interesting..." instead?

    You would think that a court would restrain itself and hesitate to rule, given so many possibilities of meaning and ambiguities here...

    1. Re:That's a lot of value judgement... by BitterOak · · Score: 3, Interesting

      ... for a court to be putting into a "like" button. For one thing, does "liking" using the button imply endorsement?

      Exactly. You read a post which says someone you don't like is a child molester. You had no knowledge of that, but you're thrilled to find out. (I'm assuming you really disliked this person.) Therefore you really like the news the post reveals, so you click "Like". It turns out the story was not true. Why should you be guilty of slander? Like doesn't mean you think the news is true; it means you like the news.

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      If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
  4. Wow, talk about shitting on free speech by Theovon · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

    1. Re:Wow, talk about shitting on free speech by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      "Free speech" does not protect things like defamation of character, slander, libel, or inciting violence.

  5. 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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    (T>t && O(n)--) == sqrt(666)
    1. Re:There go the mods by zzyvits · · Score: 3, Informative

      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

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

    Thoughtcrime!

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    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:Only one word for this by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.

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      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    2. 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. Re:Only one word for this by lgw · · Score: 4, Informative

      . 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.

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      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  7. 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. :-/

  8. Re:Read the summary by HalAtWork · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Then the button needs to be called "Endorse and support" and not "Like," so that it is explicit in its meaning to both the user and the viewer

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    Twinstiq, game news
  9. 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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    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  10. 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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    Twinstiq, game news