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Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Man Fined $4,000 by Swiss Court for ‘Liking’ Defamatory Posts on Facebook

A court in Switzerland has convicted a man on several counts of defamation after he “liked” libelous comments on the social media platform.

The court in Zurich found that the man indirectly endorsed and further distributed the comments by using the ubiquitous Facebook “like” button.

The man, who was not named in the court’s statement, “liked” several posts written by a third party that accused an animal rights activist of antisemitism, racism and fascism.

In court, the man was not able to prove that the claims were accurate or could reasonably be held to be true.

“The defendant clearly endorsed the unseemly content and made it his own,” a statement from the court said.

The court fined the man a total of 4,000 Swiss francs ($4,100). He has the right to appeal his sentence.

Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is believed to be the first time a court has interpreted a “like” as an explicit endorsement of a post.

Until last year, the button was the only way to react to a post on Facebook and it had been used to show a range of emotions, including concern.

The Zurich court statement did not specify the date of the “likes” in this case.

In February 2016, Facebook broadened the range of emotions that users can deploy when responding to a post.

Users can now trigger “Love,” “Haha,” “Wow,” “Sad,” and “Angry” buttons.

Facebook spent more than a year preparing the “reactions.” They worked with sociologists, consulted focus groups and conducted surveys to determine which emotions would make the final cut.

Critics say the range of reactions needs more work because it doesn’t include important emotions such as fear and disagreement.



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