English
The Supreme Court has raised the bar for defamation on Social Media
Claudio Calogiuri, Solicitor
During a divorce, the wife posted disparaging comments about the husband on Facebook. The husband sued the wife for defamation.
The Supreme Court said that the reading habits of an ordinary, reasonable Facebook reader would be different from those of an ordinary, reasonable reader of, say, a newspaper. Relying on a dictionary definition of the alleged defamatory phrase/word was not a good test.
Stocker v Stocker [2019] UKSC 17
For advice on this topic, write to claudio.c@mentorlegal.co.uk