Girl, 14, wins Facebook revenge porn payout

FACEBOOK has settled a landmark legal action over an image of a naked 14-yearold girl posted on a “shame” page.

The social media giant agreed to pay undisclosed damages and costs to the teenager after failing to get the action thrown out of court.

Legal experts said the case, the first of its kind, could leave social media companies facing an avalanche of claims for damages and shine a spotlight on their responsibility for inappropriate content. The girl, who cannot be identified, claimed the image was obtained after she was blackmailed and was published several times between November 2014 and January 2016 as a form of revenge.

Her legal team opened High Court proceedings in Belfast seeking damages for misuse of private information, negligence and breach of the Data Protection Act.

Pearse Macdermott from Mccann and Mccann Solicitors, which represented the teenager, said the settlement “moved the goalposts” in terms of how social media providers such as Facebook and Twitter respond to inde- cent and abusive posts and images.

“Facebook always said it was up to the individual user to be responsible, not them,” he said. “It now puts the onus on the provider to look at how they respond to indecent, abusive and other such images put on their platform.

“Had these images been put in a newspaper or on the television, there would be serious repercussions.”

Facebook insisted it always responded to breaches brought to its attention and took down the image as soon as it was notified of it.