Insults on Facebook: Defamation Offense

A ruling destined to change the “lightness” of content often found on social platforms. The Court of Cassation has established that even insults occurring within small circles of friends on Facebook are subject to complaint and, therefore, to conviction (in case of a crime) for defamation. The ruling is obviously extendable to other platforms that, by “mission,” overlap with Mark Zuckerberg’s social network.

The case. It all began with a complaint filed by a financier who was publicly offended on Facebook by a marshal of the same branch of the Financial Guard. The superior officer had publicly claimed to have been “displaced” by the newcomer, calling him “a favored candidate and a bootlicker…” along with a vulgar phrase regarding the latter’s wife.

Following the complaint filed by the offended financier, the first-instance court found grounds for a conviction of aggravated defamation. However, the appeal nullified the first sentence, citing the impossibility of recourse against the content’s author. Finally, the Court of Cassation overturned the second ruling, ordering a new proceeding against the defendant convicted in the first instance.

It is evident that this case will set a precedent for all future proceedings of this nature, and that complaints for this offense, which has the means of dissemination as an aggravating factor, could multiply based on this precedent. From all this, it becomes clear, if it weren’t already obvious, that language, even on platforms that might offer some anonymity (are we truly anonymous on the Internet?), must always be restrained and not vulgar. This is because, as the saying goes, one person’s freedom ends where another’s begins. And furthermore, paraphrasing a Latin saying, “verba volant” and “scripta manent.”