A businessman won damages today against an old friend who put
libelous and unauthorised information about him on the social
networking Web site Facebook.
Mathew Firsht won £22,000 ($NZ60,000) in damages against his
school friend Grant Raphael after Raphael set up Web pages on
Facebook that looked as if they had been set up by Firsht.
The pages incorrectly described Firsht's sexuality and
political views and alleged that Firsht owed large sums of
money. Other pages listed accurate details about his birthday
and his activities.
The information stayed on the site for 16 days until Firsht's
brother spotted it. Firsht alerted Facebook staff who deleted
the pages and told his lawyers they had been posted on the
site from a computer at Raphael's home.
Firsht sued Raphael for libel and misuse of personal
information Raphael claimed the fake pages had been created
on his computer by people who had gatecrashed a party at his
apartment in June 2007 but Judge Richard Parkes, who awarded
the damages, said his defence was "utterly far-fetched."
Firsht told the judge he fell out with Raphael, a freelance
cameraman, in 2000 over a business dispute. He said that he
believed Raphael created the fake Facebook pages to cause him
anxiety and embarrassment and damage his company, which
provides audience members for radio and television shows.
Parkes awarded Firsht £15,000 for libel and £2000 for breach
of privacy. He received another £5000 for libel against his
company, Applause Store Productions Ashley Hurst, a lawyer at
the Olswang law firm that acted for Firsht, said: "This
decision is likely to send shockwaves amongst the social
networking community.
There are many similar instances of libel and breach of
privacy which go unchecked everyday. People need to realize
that libel and privacy laws in the UK apply just as much to
online media as they do to newspapers."
E-mail and telephone messages left at Facebook's California
headquarters were not immediately returned.
