The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Can two wrongs be right? Libel:
The law is playing catch-up with the internet but change may be afoot
Proposals to update defamation law in Scotland could allow celebrities with huge online followings to spread libel without the risk of being sued, a northeast professor has claimed.
Changes being considered by the Scottish Law Commission are aimed at modernising legislation for the age of the internet and social media. The draft bill is being hailed as the most substantial proposed reform of defamation law in Scottish legal history.
One aspect being proposed is that only the originator of an online statement should be sued, not anyone who repeats or retweets it. As the law stands now anyone who repeats a libel risks action.
In her latest online column for the Press and Journal, Professor Sarah Pedersen said that, while this is a sensible approach to managing the workload of the courts, “it might be argued that it is only through retweeting that a libel is allowed to spread”.
Using the case of Lord McAlpine as an example she highlighted how the proposed changes could be “problematic”.
He threatened to seek damages from high-profile Twitter users who retweeted false reports linking him to sex abuse allegations.
She said: “One could imagine a future case where the libellous tweet of someone with a small number of followers was only spread widely because it was retweeted by someone with a much greater number of followers.
“Under the proposed reforms the influential retweeter would be likely to escape court action.”
Prof Pedersen said the law is “playing catch-up with the internet”.
“The anonymity apparently afforded by social media means that people feel free to engage in offensive behaviour that few would dare to undertake in the real world,” she said.
But she noted that columnist Katie Hopkins lost a legal battle in which she claimed the online sphere is like the Wild West, where anything goes.
“This is increasingly becoming untrue,” Prof Pedersen said.
“The influential retweeter would be likely to avoid court action”