When do tweets cross the line? Defamation lawsuit against Twitter user might cause users to think twice before tweeting.
Posted on 28 July 2009, at 5:50 am, by Wayne Schulz
This morning I was reading about Amanda Bonnen. She’s a Twitter user who sent a tweet on May 12 from her public Twitter account that in part stated her management company, Horizon Realty, “thinks it’s okay” to sleep in a moldy apartment. She was subsequently sued for defamation over her message. Assuming that this suit both goes forward and is successful – could this bring an end to the freewheeling atmosphere of Twitter where just writing anything seems fair game? This could be a much bigger issue than it seems. Just think of how many times we let loose with a Twitter message berating a company for poor customer service. Would Twitter enjoy the popularity that it now experiences if users became concerned about lawsuits?
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July 28th, 2009 at 8:40 am
I’m no lawyer, but I don’t see how a tweet is different from a blog post — and since when is it illegal to post your displeasure with a company on the internet?
July 28th, 2009 at 9:08 am
I’m not a lawyer either, but I thought there were 1st Amendment protections for something like this.
July 28th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
IANAL…etc
The First Amendment’s original intent was to prohibit action against individuals that spoke out against the government, and court decisions have extended to states as well but it did not address statements made about other individuals.
In any event, an individual’s “freedom of speech” only extends to the point where it causes harm to another. And even then it’s not always a criminal offense, but rather a civil one. Ms. Bonnen’s comments are aimed at injuring the realty company’s reputation, causing them harm. In my state, such statements have to be proven or one risks being sued civilally for libel and slander, and the only defense is to prove what you said is true. Had she simply stated the facts of her dispute, she would have a much better defense. Her statement is not factual, but rather purposely defamatory. Now, if she could produce correspondence from the realty company to prove they have stated what she asserts and have a chance at winning.
I sympathize with what her situation must be, and how frustrating it is, but a simple statement of facts would have served her much better, and not been libelous. She could possibly simple state that she was exaggerating due to stress.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
We seem to have forgotten that tweeting isn’t like complaining to your best friend. Once you put something out there it is OUT there for the world to see. It is public! That puts it into a very different category than what she, or I in that situation, might have said to friends and family.
There is a very real danger when we are too casual (and getting more so all the time) With something that thousands or tens of thousands might see seconds after posting.
Friends don’t let friends tweet when they are angry.
July 29th, 2009 at 8:17 am
And as always, while facts are always a refutation of libel charges, speculation or questions tend to deflect the ’statements causing harm’ thing … if she asked “I wonder if they think it is OK’ instead of stating “they think it is ok’ it would be different.