Strictly Legal: Facebook 'like' isn't defamatory
A federal court in Hawaii recently ruled that merely “liking” a post on Facebook doesn’t constitute defamation, even if the underlying post itself contains defamatory content.The question arose in a case brought by Danny Gallagher. Gallagher is a photographer who maintains a Facebook page under the name “Danny the Doula.” A woman named Jess Young posted a review on the Danny the Doula page that stated:
This man is a predator, luring women into nude photo shoots, refusing to return paid-for photographs from session [sic] over a year later, selling women’s nakedness to other males. After he has groomed a group of females, he pits them against one another and quietly messages individual women he has targeted as financially or emotionally struggling, and tries coercing them into sexualized photos and videos for his profit. There are screenshot after screenshot of this behavior, with multiple women. The only women speaking up for him are the ones he has groomed fully and have not been contacted about sex work for him, yet. They are victims of his as much as anyone else involved. The fact that they are demanding evidence beyond what has already been given, shows what a masterful work this man has done to keep women from protecting one another in the birthing community.
A woman named Anne Croudace saw the post and, without comment, hit the “like” button. Gallagher sued Croudace, arguing that clicking the “like” button constituted a republication of the defamatory post.The case went to a jury trial, and after the parties presented all of their evidence, Croudace asked the court to rule in her favor as a matter of law. Because the case was filed in a Hawaii-based federal court, the judge, in deciding Croudace’s motion, was required to predict how the Hawaii Supreme Court would decide the case, and rule on that basis.In reaching its decision, the federal court determined that the Hawaii Supreme Court would conclude that simply “liking” a comment would not constitute “adoption or republication” of the defamatory content. This makes sense in that the “like,” without any additional comment, is inconclusive at best. Does the “liker” mean to say “I know the facts and they are true”? That is probably not the case. It is more likely that the “liker” is simply acknowledging receipt of the post. In any event, because it is not clear what the “like” means, it can’t support a defamation claim by itself.On this basis, the court dismissed Gallagher’s claims against Croudace. Gallagher probably is not pushing the like button on this ruling, but it is the law.
Jack Greiner is a partner at the Graydon law firm in Cincinnati. He represents Enquirer Media in First Amendment and media issues.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Strictly Legal: Facebook "like" isn't defamatory
