In a judgment handed down on 4 February 2013 ([2013] EWHC 145 (QB)) Mr Justice Eady awarded the former Conservative Party treasurer, Peter Cruddas, defamation damages of £45,000 in respect of 9 blogs and 12 tweets by published by lobbyist Mark Adams. Continue reading
The International Forum for Responsible Media Blog
Tag: Social Media (Page 5 of 5)
Posting a risqué joke? Maybe you should think twice! With so many recent developments it is understandable for individuals to be concerned about getting into trouble when publishing something online. Criminal charges for posts on social networking sites such as the infamous Robin Hood Airport bombing case and recent arrests for malicious communications are serious warnings to members of the public. Continue reading
The ubiquity of social media presents new challenges for law enforcement and free speech. The Leveson Report described the internet as an ‘ethical vacuum’ where ‘bloggers and others may, if they choose, act with impunity’. But this picture of an unregulated domain of free expression is at odds with recent prosecutions for messages posted on Twitter, Facebook and other social media websites. Continue reading
It has the makings of a pub quiz question: What do Sally Bercow, Nick Griffin, Lalit Modi, George Monbiot and Rupert Murdoch have in common? (And please don’t answer this question by way of Twitter). For the purposes of this article, they are some recent examples of those finding themselves in legal trouble on Twitter. They are unlikely to be the last. Continue reading
This week a teenager from Lancashire was sent to prison for making sick and incredibly distasteful jokes on his facebook page concerning missing 5 year old April Jones and Madeline Macann. Matthew Woods, who is 19 years old, is said to have adapted the jokes from Sickapedia, a website which publishes sick jokes, and posted them ‘in a moment of drunken stupidity’. Woods pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment. Continue reading
Lord Justice Leveson’s enormous task is to examine the culture, practices and ethics of the media, with a special emphasis on the “press”. This is because it was serious concerns about the behaviour of UK national newspapers that instigated the national Inquiry into media relationships with the public, the police and politicians. Continue reading
We have previously drawn attention to Gary Hayes’ “Counter” for Social Media use which shows the amount of social media activity taking place at any given moment. This can be found at the bottom of this post. It suggests that our blog post today was one of over 2 million posted worldwide in the past 24 hours – along with 175 million tweets and an astonishing 3.2 billion likes and comments on Facebook. Continue reading
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