Facebook warned it faces legal action from “revenge porn” victims (theguardian.com).
Facebook is facing a number of lawsuits from victims of “revenge porn”, a leading libel lawyer has warned, after a teenager reached a settlement with the social networking site over naked images of her that were posted online. The Belfast-based libel and privacy expert Paul Tweed has also told the Guardian his office was being “deluged” by inquiries from people who claim naked and compromising pictures had been posted on Facebook, Twitter and other sites.
With it suggested that a floodgate has been opened after F’book reached a confidential settlement with a 14-year-old girl this week who sued them after a photo of her was posted on a so-called “shame page” on the site, again suggesting their real-name and moderation policy and the much reported “inconsistencies” of its naked pictures removing algorithm (Latest Picks 8th Nov. 2017) is about as useful as a one-legged part-time moderator in an arse-kicking contest, facing the wrong way no less, unless the F’book “community” reports someone getting more attention than them.
Much boils down to whether F’book—and inevitably other social networks—are regarded by law as responsible as publishers, and therefore responsible for what is published, or as providers simply giving Web 2.0 accessibility for users to “publish”, the legality of which the company is not responsible for.
Recent/related stories
- Facebook testing photo match technology to fight revenge porn (Blog 8th November 2017)
- Scotland to punish revenge porn crimes more harshly than England (Latest Picks 5th July 2017)
- Leaks expose peculiar and inconsistent Facebook moderation policy (Latest Picks 22nd May 2017)
- VR revenge porn: Angry exes could create 3D avatars of past lovers (Latest Picks 22nd May 2017)
- Revenge Porn: Anna Richardson reveals the “alarming” dark side of 21st Century hatred (Latest Picks 17th August 2015)
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