People Who Republish Defamatory Posts Can Defend Themselves

Magali Marin-Young

Under the new laws, people who make Facebook posts that are republished or shared or draw other comments that can be deemed as libelous or defamatory comments can be held accountable. Unless they can prove in court that they were unaware of the libel.

Magali Marin-Young, Attorney-General

“Sometimes somebody publishes something and its republished, shared on a personal page and the person unwittingly did not know this statement to be untrue, it provides the court the flexibility to take into account that the person who republished may not have known that that information is (untrue). But it does provide – the court may make a correction order, the court may order the persons to correct the statements that were defamatory. The court may make say how many times you need to publish and the primacy with which whether it’s on the front page or how many times you need to leave it on your page to get it corrected, or in the print media, if it’s on the front page etcetera. The courts, in a sense, have been making orders to that effect but it gives them a little bit more flexibility in the exercise of their discretion.”

In terms of damage suffered, the new law also stipulates that the damages awarded have to realistically compensate for that damage.