Can I Be Sued From A Retweet?

When going through your Twitter feed you will often find yourself retweeting a couple of Tweets which particularly resonate with you. The action of retweeting something is so simple it can be done with the touch of a button and minimal thought will go into this. It has somewhat been ingrained as a natural action in the modern social media culture.

If you knew that legal action could be brought against you based on a retweet, would you still continue to retweet as regularly as you do?

There is a common perception amongst most that legal action could not be brought against you based on something you retweeted, as surely action could only be taken against the original ‘tweeter’.

The recent case of Riley and others v Heybroek, however, suggests that a defamation claim can be taken against any individual who retweets a tweet which is deemed to be defamatory. This should be enough to encourage any individual to think twice before carelessly retweeting.

Riley and others v Heybroek

The Case

The Claimants, in this case, were both TV celebrities in their own right, Rachel Riley and Tracy-Ann Oberman. The Defendant was a specialist immigration barrister who was being sued by the Claimants because of a retweet she made which included a link to an article. It was the article, that the Claimants claimed was defamatory towards them.

The test for defamation is split into two main elements:

The Judge in this case first had to decide whether the article was in fact published by the individual. Although the article was initially published by a third party on a separate website, it was held that the act of a retweet also acted as publishing the content. This was because the article was again made aware of third parties other than the victim.

Once the need for being published was satisfied, the Judge turned to review whether the retweet was in fact defamatory. Whilst the actual retweet itself was not defamatory on the face of it, the link which took viewers to the article was. The Judge held in any instance this article must be deemed to be part of the retweet and therefore reviewed it for any defamatory comment.

It was noted that the article in two places contained an opinion which was in law defamatory. These opinions suggested that the Claimants subjected others to harassment and abuse and that they encouraged others to lead further harassment. On the face of it, this was sufficient for the Claimants to bring a claim of defamation against the Defendant.

Whilst this is an ongoing case and has not yet been settled as such, the Defendant was content with the initial hearing as the statements were held to be an opinion. The Defendant will now seek to raise a defence of an honest opinion. This defence argues that the opinion was based on known facts and could be relied upon by a reasonable person forming such an opinion.

Impact

This ongoing case demonstrates how an individual can be sued based on something they have retweeted. It further demonstrates the lengths an individual will have to go to defend the published statement, as in this case, the defendant is having to defend an article which was written by a third party.

It is also worth noting that although a number of other people also retweeted the same tweet, the defendant has been singled out and chosen to have proceedings brought against them alone. This is likely because the defendant is perceived to have a greater social media reach and possibly funds available to meet any damages which may be awarded.

Comment

Before you go on to retweet in the future, it is advisable that you review anything you intend on tweeting or retweeting, to ensure nothing is published which is likely to be held as defamation.