Injunction To Remove Allegedly Defamatory Social Media Posts Dismissed

A recent case of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice illustrates the difficulties that a plaintiff may encounter when seeking to stop allegedly defamatory posts from being published on social media. The granting of interim injunctive relief in defamation cases is rare and will only be ordered in the clearest of cases.

In Sole Cleaning Inc. v. Chu, 2020 ONSC 7226 (CanLII), the Plaintiffs brought a motion for an interim order removing posts which they alleged to be defamatory. The Defendant, a former employee of the Plaintiffs, posted comments on social media alleging, amongst other things, that she was terminated by the Plaintiffs for supporting the Black Lives Matter movement ("BLM movement"); that the individual Plaintiffs were racists and had used racist epithets; that the Plaintiffs' business did not care about Black people and only wanted to profit off of Black culture; and that the Plaintiffs treated their employees poorly. The Plaintiffs commenced an action