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ARTICLE · 02 AUGUST 2013

Making Social Networks Remediate Defamation Enabled By Their Platforms: McKeogh v Facebook

McCarthy Tétrault
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Recently, the Irish High Court came up with a novel solution in a social media defamation case involving an unfortunate young student who was grossly defamed.

CanadaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Barry Sookman
Barry Sookman
Roland Hung
Roland Hung
Sara Tebbutt
Sara Tebbutt
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Overview

Recently, the Irish High Court came up with a novel solution in a social media defamation case involving an unfortunate young student who was grossly defamed when certain persons wrongly identified him as the man seen in a video posted on YouTube exiting a taxi in Dublin without paying the fare.1 The decision illustrates the difficulties an innocent person who is defamed on social media can face when trying to have the material removed, particularly where the Internet intermediaries who may have the ability to help refuse to cooperate. In this case the High Court ordered the experts from Google and Facebook, the Internet intermediaries, to meet with the plaintiff's expert to procure a solution that can be incorporated into a mandatory injunction.

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