Jade Lattimore: You said what? Defamation law in the age of social media

Remember the old saying, “If you wouldn’t print it, don’t say it”? In today’s digital world, it’s more relevant than ever.

Australia has seen a surge in defamation lawsuits arising from social media posts.

A recent case saw one ‘foodie’ left with egg on his face after he accused a rival foodie of being a paedophile and racist in videos posted on his Instagram.

The NSW District Court awarded the plaintiff $300,000 in damages and slapped the defendant with a permanent injunction.

In another case, the ACT Supreme Court found a man’s Facebook posts implied that the CEO of a soccer body was a fraudster, dishonest, grossly incompetent and sexist.

The court noted that with the defendant having 400 “friends” on Facebook, the imputations could easily spread — if they had not already — far and wide.

The plaintiff walked away with $180,000 in damages.

So what’s the lesson? Every time you hit “post” on social media, even if you are not the author, you are a publisher of the content.

And if others share your defamatory content, then they are publishers of that content too.

At law, authors and publishers of defamatory content are liable for the damage, costs and losses of those they defame.

A defamatory social media post can be reposted, retweeted and read globally in moments.

You may face a lawsuit not just locally, but in any country where your post is accessible.

Local community group social media pages in particular are a hotbed for defamatory comments, where members pile on a bandwagon without much regard for truth or the effect it might have on the target’s business and social life.

There are some defences, like expressing an honest opinion, telling the truth or addressing matters of public interest, but that is tricky terrain.

The bottom line: social media posts can be defamatory under Australian law and the courts are more than happy to award significant damages to those being defamed.

The law has caught up. Think twice before you hit “enter” on your next social media post.

Jade Lattimore is principal and senior lawyer at Greenstone Legal in West Perth and Albany.