Elon Musk’s US lawyers used some interesting arguments to defend their client from the accusation of libel. Musk used the term “pedo guy” in a Tweet after Vernon Unsworth had turned down an offer by Musk to build a submarine to save the trapped Thai football team. Musk did not name Unsworth but Unsworth claimed Read More
Category: Libel
Bribery allegations against Ferguson in court case
Sir Alex Ferguson took a £30,000 gold Rolex watch as a bribe to fix a football match at Manchester United, a court was told last week. Before you rush away and tweet this surprising piece of news look at the end of the sentence: “a court was told last week”. “The court was told” There’s a Read More
Threat of libel on social media drops again
Great news for creators of social media: the threat of libel has dropped again. Users of social media “read” its content in a casual way and did not pause to reflect. This new ruling of the Supreme Court says that dictionary definitions of words and elaborate analysis cannot be applied to social media. A new Read More
Top Tip – Always be sure to keep dated notes of any interviews you conduct
Typing directly into your website CMS often leaves no proof of what was said and when, especially if it was edited at a later date. That leaves you open to being sued! Check out our Libel and other defamations elearning course for more. Read More
Win one, lose one in social media libel ruling by the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has made two important rulings covering twitter, Facebook and libel. They affect how large a group of viewers needs to be and what words mean on twitter. One is good for the claimant: the other is good for the defence. A woman published a tweet to her ex-husband’s new partner that he Read More
Is it an invasion of privacy to retweet a celebrity’s personal pictures?
This is one of the most common questions in our social media workshops. Contact us if you’re not sure, or check out our Social Media and the Law elearning course. Read More
Social Media and the Law – Elearning course now live!
Do you really know what you can and can’t post? Take our elearning course for just £9.99 and find out. Read More
A UK internet troll seriously damaged the reputation of a US lawyer, the High Court decided yesterday. Jason Page put a false review on Google maps about the Colorado lawyer Timothy Bussey, the Court decided. Under the new law Page now faces a £100,000 bill after losing the case. It is one of the first Read More
Specsavers should have gone to ContentETC to save it a libel action
Kevin Pietersen has won a libel action against an advert. It suggested that he had tampered with his cricket bat to fool the Hot Spot technology cricket now uses. It was run by Specsavers. His lawyer rightly said after: the intention of the content or its creators is irrelevant. It’s the impact that counts. All Read More
ContentETC briefing prompts campaign to reform libel in Nigeria
A leading Nigerian media company plans to launch a campaign in Nigeria to reform Nigeria’s libel laws. Media Trust, a newspaper, internet and magazine publisher in the Nigerian capital, plans to lobby other publishers and journalists to mount this campaign. The aim is to reform the complicated libel laws to win more freedom of speech. Read More