Legal Updates

Posting incitement and slander on social media may result in the issuance of a threatening harassment order

November 3, 2021
Print

A number of people set up a group on Facebook in which they slandered a commercial company and its owner, incited against it and even called for the murder of its owner. The incitement was so strong that it led to firearms being used against the company owners.

The Court granted the motion for an order to prevent threatening harassment that to remove the posts on Facebook an avoid any future similar act. Repeated publications, frequent and in large quantity may be deemed harassment that justifies the issuance of an order preventing it, due to the severe harm posed from such to the peace and quite of the person on whom they are made. Here, if such threatening posts are not removed from the web, there is a reasonable basis to believe that similar posts in their content and style will be uploaded in the future and may harm the security, body and property of the company and its owners. The responsibility for the threatening posts that have been published in the past and the responsibility for those that will be published in the future, is on the Facebook group manager. Therefore, is required to issue an order under the Prevention of Threatening Harassment Act instructing the removal of the posts and avoiding any similar publicaitons in the future.