Rise and Risk of Libel on Social Media
Social media is a fascinating and compelling form of interaction between people all over the world. It allows us to dispatch information to the public swiftly but unlike broadcasting through radio or television, there is no gatekeeper. Information that is put on the Internet never really goes away and because of its instantaneous feed to the public, it can cause irreparable damages. These damages include a rising growth of defamation cases involving online content found on social networks. Social media has become a hotspot for potentially libelous statements. Lawsuits involving social media usually concern claims of defamation. Defamation is any statement that that can hurt an individual or company’s
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Christie, Robert Lynch is a chiropractor in South Portland, Maine who serviced Joan Christie. Christie was unsatisfied after one of her visits. A few months later, Christie tells her friends and reports to police and the Maine Board of Chiropractic Licensure that she has been sexually assaulted by Lynch, but the Board dismisses “Christie’s complaint for lack of or insufficient evidence of any violation of law or rule” (Lynch v. Christie). Christie ends up publishing an article on a website about her story of sexual abuse as well as Facebook statuses about the event. The website “published an entry stating it would give the name of the chiropractor in response to a contact form and it did reveal Lynch’s name to at least one of his patients” (Lynch v. Christie). Lynch sought professional counseling and ended up suing Christie and those who helped her create the website for defamation. This case has not been decided …show more content…
Opinion isn’t always protected and to make false statements that can harm someone’s reputation is a serious offense. In terms of broadcasting, any information put on these social networks reaches millions of people in less than a second and can cause more harm to others than meant. Companies realize that there is not a federal department that can observe and reprimand what is said on social media, so a few are creating departments that monitor what is being said about them and try to take action before any harm is done. The content that is put on social media is up to the people that post it. The more of these social media defamation cases that are coming up will hopefully be a warning to the public that what they say online can lead to serious repercussions.
Works Cited
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In the past years, social media has grown drastically and is affecting people in many different ways. How is this happening? Those who agree social media is affecting people will convince many because of the spreading of false information, emotional appeal, and the connection social media provides to people and Cass R. Sustein, Nicholas Carr, and Eli Pariser are able to provide this information in their articles or speeches.
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Social media has immensely evolved in how many companies and employers do business in recent years. It has helped many companies grow and expand by usage of social media by mass and instant communication and advertising through this technology. Like anything, there is a side effect. The social media "downfall” is the subject of employees bashing their employer's reputation in regards of employee’s communication via social media about their employers. With such controversy, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has had to step in to distinguish what is considered lawful of unlawful termination due to these actions by employees and their employers. The question to ask if such an issue should arise is to determine if it is concerted activity or not. This will help the NLRB determine if proper disciplinary procedures have been taken.
Mass Media. Ed. William Dudley. Farmington Hills, MI: Thompson Gale, 2005. 121-130.
Social media is a craze that has spread quickly and has millions of people that access them daily. Social media includes popular websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace. Social media allows people to interact with other people by creating a personalized profile. The personalized profile has a lot of personal information on it that is easily accessed by anyone that is befriended on the website or if the profile is public. Another feature of these social media websites is that other people can openly access and view your profiles content. These contents can be a person’s home address, where they work and a lot of other personal information. A dark side to the social media explosion is the rise of what could be defined as illegal activity. On these social media websites there are multiple examples of bullying, racial slurs, and threats taken in the form of instant messages or posting on the person’s profile. Can the information that is found can be used against someone in a criminal court of law? If the information can be gathered what is the process of
Social media is an imperative public relations tool for companies to utilize in their business practices. Social media cannot be regulated so anyone can say what they please about the company, whether it is good, bad or ugly. Social media is developing rapidly and there are new platforms
Social media can be used for the wrong reasons in many situations. There are many people who have been victims in cyber-bulling, cyber-stalking, and online frauds.
JOHN E. REDSTONE, KARL H.SCHULZ, and DEAN M. BASTILLA verse Google INC. No. 3:10-cv-00400-JPG -DGW. US District Courth for the Southern District of Illinois. April 2010.
Social media doesn’t really have unreliable and false informations. They make false rumours about someone. Social media such as blogs have misinformation people seem to believe everything what’s on the blog just because it’s on the website. People waste their time doing social media. Some people spend on social media for hours and these days you don’t really learn anything from social media. Usually people who spends a lot of time on social meida they tended to have lower grades.Social media are not that helpful because it usually contains gossiping. Cyberbullying is the biggest problem in social media. Most of people who got cyberbullied are most likely to suicide or be
Social media has caused a substantial decrease in face-to-face time, stopped people from working effectively, and has caused an increase in bullying. Social media as defined by dictionary.com is “websites and other online means of communication that are used by large groups of people to share information and to develop social and professional contacts”. People use social media for networking, education, and entertainment. Some of today’s most popular social media sites include Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Facebook is used as a basic social media site.
On social media, each individual has the power to be influential and important. There is a freedom of expression on social media that we are allowed to express. A user on Facebook can post anything they want or anything they want for free.... ... middle of paper ... ...