Can Facebook and Twitter hurt your pocket book?
Can Facebook and Twitter hurt your pocket book?.
Over the past couple years with the massive growth of social media there has also been a large increase in “Defamation” lawsuits. According to the legal dictionary the definition of “Defamation” is;
- communication to third parties of false statements about a person that injure the reputation of or deter others from associating with that person
There are two basic types of defamation – one is slander the other libel. The difference between them is slander involves the making of a defamatory statement verbally (Oral) – Libel involves the making of defamatory statements in a printed or fixed medium, such as a magazine or newspapers, blog sites, Twitter and Facebook.
It is the defamation lawsuits involving libel that have increased drastically over the past several years as more and more people get on Facebook and twitter. One inappropriate status update or tweet and you can find yourself in a courtroom defending yourself. Though the burden of proving defamation is a tough case to win, it is getting more and more prevalent. So much so that companies like Webroot have created a “Sobriety Test” (download a FREE version here) for social media sites that you can download right onto your computer. View their tutorial here:
