Contempt laws for social media ‘needed’

CONTEMPT laws may need to be extended to cover social media and its effect on court cases, outgoing Chief Justice Susan Denham has said.

Speaking at the launch of the Courts Service’s annual report yesterday, in her last public outing before her retirement, Ms Justice Denham said we need to ‘plan for the future’ in the digital age as ‘concerns over social media are widespread and real’.

She described social media as being a ‘great tool for the mass dissemination of information’, but said there are ‘genuine concerns over the dissemination of false claims – which damage social debate, learning and understanding’.

This comes just weeks after the conclusion to the Jobstown trial – during which there was a great deal of comment made on social media about the case.

Judge Denham said: ‘To date, it has been rare that courts in Ireland have had to use contempt-of-court laws to curb inaccurate and disruptive online communications about cases. But it would be naive of us not to plan for the future in this regard.

‘There are several areas we need to address in protecting the right to a fair trial of an individual in this era of social media. The fundamental right to a fair trial does not change in the face of any new means of communication.’

She said she will be sending draft discussion papers to the president of each court on guidelines for the use of social media in the courts, and said she will ask the Courts Service to engage with the media and legal professionals on the matter.

Her remarks were supported by Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, who said he is ‘keen to have a review, with particular reference to the application of social media in civil law on the matter of contempt of court’. He added: ‘I will be acting upon whatever recommendations are made.’