Social media is integral to most aspects of our lives these days, but having an account comes with a certain degree of responsibility to ensure we aren’t accused of defamation. Defamation can occur if you say something untrue that lowers a person’s reputation in the eyes of their peers and ‘publish’ it in any format.

“There’s are a thousand ways you can do it and electronic social media is just another version of that.”
Strict rules govern what we can and can’t legally say on social media.

In November 2013 a landmark court ruling was handed down whereby Orange High school student Andrew Farley was ordered to pay $105,000 for the defamation of music teacher Christine Mickle using social media. In his decision, Judge Michael Elkaim said that it is common knowledge that when defamation occurs on social media it is easily spread. “Their evil lies in the grapevine effect that stems from the use of this type of publication,” Judge Elkaim said.

Defamation can easily and unknowingly happen on social media and content from social media pages are increasingly being used in court. Boog says that about a third of the cases that go to court will use evidence that has come from social media and suggests avoiding saying anything that you wouldn’t want a judge to judge on. “If you say something and you’re happy to go to court and think a judge will vindicate you, it’s probably reasonable. But if you don’t think you’ll get that vindication and support, don’t say it.”

Action can be taken against anyone who defames someone over the internet, even if they haven’t been named, so long as there is enough information for other people to recognise who the defamatory material is about. It includes anything that makes someone the butt of jokes, damages their reputation or causes others to avoid them.

If you have defamed someone online you can offer to publish a reasonable correction or pay expenses reasonably incurred by the complainant to the time of the offer. And if all else fails, you can always try saying you’re sorry.