Burrows v Houda [2020] NSWDC 485
Last month, the District Court of New South Wales determined
that the 'zipper-face' emoji was capable of conveying a
defamatory meaning when used in a Twitter post.
The interlocutory decision was made in the context of defamation
proceedings commenced by Ms Zali Burrows against Mr Adam Houda in
relation to two Twitter posts published by Mr Houda on 28 July 2019
and 27 May 2020. Mr Houda posted a link to a Sydney Morning Herald
article via his Twitter account which reported upon a case in which
a judge had allegedly referred Ms Burrows (a solicitor) for
possible disciplinary action. The relevant posts by Mr Houda were
helpfully annexed to the decision of Her Honour Judge Gibson and a
link to the decision is provided below. Of particular significance
was the second tweet, published by Mr Houda on 27 May 2020. In
response to the article link published by Mr Houda, a third party
Twitter user commented:
