Twitter: "...at law anyone involved in the publication can be sued."

true lilly Thu Feb 16, 2012 11:48 pm

Twitter sued in Australia
for defamation
for first time
over Marieke Hardy comments
by:By staff writer From:news.com.au
February 17, 2012 1:28PM

Twitter: "...at law anyone involved in the publication can be sued." 118738-marieke-hardy

Twitter: "...at law anyone involved in the publication can be sued." 118738-marieke-hardy

ABC star Marieke Hardy falsely accused Joshua Meggitt
of writing hate blog about her.
Picture: Noel Kessel

First Hardy settles, now Twitter is sued

False accusation was spread using Twitter

Will be Australian first for social media company

AN Australian man is suing Twitter for defamation
after ABC personality and author Marieke Hardy wrongly accused him
of being the author of a hate blog.

Melbourne man Joshua Meggitt threatened Hardy with defamation
action last year after she made the allegations on her on Twitter
account. Hardy later reportedly settled this out of court for
$15,000 reported Fairfax Media outlets.

Mr Meggitt's lawyer Scott Gibson told Fairfax Media his client was now
seeking legal redress from the social media company: "Twitter are a
publisher, and at law anyone involved in the publication can be sued."

"We're suing for the retweets and the original tweet -
and many of the retweets and comments are far worse."

Twitter 'keeps mobile phone contacts for 18 months'

The action drama began when Hardy denounced Melbourne man Mr
Meggitt as a hate blogger who had been stalking her for years, writing
on her Twitter account "I name and shame my 'anonymous' internet bully.
Liberating business! Join me," she then linked to a post on her blog
wrongly identifying Mr Meggitt.

Hardy wrote on her blog at the time of settling the matter in December last year:
"I accept that Joshua is not the writer and I sincerely apologise to him and his family
for any upset caused”.

Comment is being sought from Twitter.