What you say on Facebook may come back to bite you

Comments you make on Facebook, as innocent as they seem, can cause significant damage to someone's reputation.

We regularly see issues arising from people posting comments on Facebook without thinking about the potential legal consequences.

Take a recent case between a separated husband and wife for example, where the ex-husband posted the following: “June turned out to be a thieving, lying, money crazed b****, who screwed me out of nearly 3 million grand, may she rot in hell".

The ex-wife commenced proceedings against the ex-husband for the defamatory comments he made on Facebook. The post remained on Facebook for about 16 hours before it was deleted.

The Court ultimately found that the post was defamatory of the ex-wife. It clearly identified her, and despite the ex-husband claiming that he inadvertently posted the post, the Court rejected this suggestion.

The ex-husband was liable to the ex-wife for damages for the defamatory comments made. The ex-husband was ordered to pay the sum of $10,000 to the ex-wife. It was also not necessary for her to prove damage to her reputation; the Court considered that this was presumed once such a defamatory publication had been made.

Posting defamatory comments to Facebook is now considered by the Courts as just as serious and damaging as defamatory newspaper and magazine articles.

For more information contact our Dispute Resolution team.