The law has encountered a great nemesis over the last few years in the form of social media sites which throw up challenges that could not possibly have been conceived at the time our laws were drafted. There are numerous published articles explaining that users of social media sites can be legally liable, both in the civil and criminal courts, for things they post online but despite this, the problems continue to plague the legal system.
The most recent case to feel the effects of social media interference is the prosecution of Jeremy Forrest, the maths teacher who was jailed for his relationship with a schoolgirl. However, the focus of this blog isn’t to look at the prosecution, but to look at the subsidiary issue of the schoolgirl being named online and the legal protection of anonymity she is entitled to receive.
The schoolgirl in this case has two-fold protection for her anonymity; lifetime protection arising out of the fact she is the victim of a sexual offence and protection from an order of the court pursuant to Children and Young Persons Act 1933. Over the years there have not been too many issues regarding the press and the protection afforded to anonymity but today’s technology and culture permits and encourages self-publication and this is where the problems have arisen. The Guardian hit the nail on the head with an article titled ‘Jeremy Forrest case: Twitter users could have broken the law’, the operative word in the title being ‘could’. In the new ear of mass self-publication via social media sites, laws are being broken all the time and people don’t know they are doing anything wrong. It certainly isn’t easy to associate tweeting or posting with giving rise to legal liability, but it is fast becoming clear that it does and people need to be very careful about what they say online.
It would be very useful for some clear guidance regarding the use of social media sites and their relationship with legal liability. In the meantime, a couple of good rules to apply to your posts or tweets are (i) just because other people have posted it doesn’t mean it is fine to re-post, re-tweet or say something similar and (ii) if you have doubts about a post or tweet you have written then don’t post it because it is better to be safe than sorry!
