Court finds man guilty of ‘liking’ Facebook posts

A landmark ruling has seen a Facebook user convicted of defamation for ‘liking’ a post that accused another man of anti-Semitism and racism.

In the first case of its kind in Switzerland, an unnamed 45-year-old man was found guilty after he pressed the ‘like’ button on several posts attacking a man named Erwin Kessler, the president of an animal rights group.

Mr Kessler brought a case against the defendant and argued that by ‘liking’ the post, the man had made the messages more visible on the social network.

Judge Catherine Gerwig ruled that the man was “spreading a value judgement” by ‘liking’ the posts and that a ‘like’ was associated with a positive – meaning the man was in support of the post’s content.

The court ruled that the defendant could not prove the statements against Mr Kessler were true and found the man guilty of defamation. The man was given a suspended fine. Several other people have since also been convicted for defaming Mr Kessler.

Will you be more careful in the future with what posts you ‘like’ or ‘share’ on Facebook?

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