Should Everyone Be Held Accountable for Libel Laws?

[DanOregon]

With the rise of social media and its potential reach and impact, should individuals that spread false and defaming information be held to the same standards of legacy media?

I'd argue "yes" - particularly if their audience/followers/etc. is of a significant size. 5k, 10, whatever. I'm tired of a lot of internet people reaping all the rewards of spreading false info without being held accountable. Just wondering what other people thought.

 

[Twirling Time]

Public figures have to be pr9ven to show intent of malice, which is an order of magnitude of proof. But yes, social media posters are subject to the same defamation rules as print and TV media entities.

 

[justgladtobehere]

Misinformation isn't necessarily libelous.

 

[Batman]

Absolutely not.
In fact, absolutely forking not.
Who gets to decide what is "false" or "misinformation"? What constitutes those things? Does a funny or silly meme, like some of the ones from the White House dust-up with Zelensky, constitute "misinformation" or "false information"?
If you repost something that looks legit, but turns out to be wrong, are you guilty of spreading false information? As a reporter, if you write a story that has a bad typo or needs a correction, can you be sued or put in jail?
This kind of thinking is spreading across Europe right now, and it's beyond terrifying if you give a darn at all about free speech.

 

[Azrael]

Europe

Yes.

Europe.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

No one who voted for trump actually gives a flying fork about free speech, or anything else in the Constitution. Being lectured by a trump voter about free speech is forking laughable.

 

[DanielSimpsonDay]

when just asking questions is outlawed only outlaws will just ask questions

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

If you repost something that looks legit, but turns out to be wrong, are you guilty of spreading false information?

Yes.

 

[sgreenwell]

In general, I think it's a bad idea to make libel or slander suits easier to pursue, because what it'll really lead to is more bludgeoning of free speech by any entities with the means to sue. Look at all of the bullship going on with Trump vs. CBS, Meta and so on. If you lower the bar to pursue a slander or libel case, you will get a lot more entities with deep pockets willing to pursuit lawsuits, and it will paradoxically lead to more misinformation being out there.

 

[Batman]

Yes.

So if you go to the politics thread and repost an Aaron Rupar tweet of a story on the Trump administration that's misleading, slanted or outright false, you're OK with going to jail for it? Or someone suing you for sharing a meme that's funny but obviously untrue?

 

[Deskgrunt50]

So if you go to the politics thread and repost an Aaron Rupar tweet of a story on the Trump administration that's misleading, slanted or outright false, you're OK with going to jail for it? Or someone suing you for sharing a meme that's funny but obviously untrue?

Do you have an iota of self awareness of what you voted for? You're still a fellow "enemy of the people," right?

Did the ruthless authoritarian Obama ever throw you in jail for spreading misinformation that he was going to declare martial law to stop trump in 2016?

 

[Batman]

Do you have an iota of self awareness of what you voted for? You're still a fellow "enemy of the people," right?

Did the ruthless authoritarian Obama ever throw you in jail for spreading misinformation that he was going to declare martial law to stop trump in 2016?

The question was, should a post like that get someone thrown into jail or sued? It certainly appears that some folks here think it should, without an iota of self awareness that whatever the party in power happens to be at the moment would be the ones deciding what is "true" and what is "false."