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Instagram riot probe nears completion

The Swedish police are close to wrapping up their investigation into the "slut-shaming" account on Instagram that caused Gothenburg teenagers to riot last year.

Instagram riot probe nears completion

More than 50 victims have offered the police screen shots of derogatory or insulting comments about them left on the Instagram account, which asked people to spread gossip about others’ sexual activities.

In all, about 85 teenagers have reported other teens’ comments about them and their private lives to the police.

Many of the comments, several of which used graphic and obscene language, are being investigated as possible slander.

SEE ALSO: ‘Friends snitching is the worst’ – Irma, 16, was one of the girls affected by the Instagram slut-shaming riot

At the time, in late December, the mud-slinging on the popular photo-sharing site seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for teenagers fed up with accusation and counter-accusations online.

The original account holder, who had a pseudonym, had also promised the ratting teens anonymity – a promise that was reportedly broken, with ensuing pandemonium.

CLICK HERE FOR IMAGES FROM THE ‘INSTAGRAM RIOTS’

A riot ensued as hundreds of students assembled outside the Plusgymnasiet high school in an attempt to find the owner of the anonymous Instagram account – at the time believed to have been a 17-year-old girl, whom the police had already taken to safety earlier in the day.

Video from the scene

She was later cleared of all suspicions.

Police made 27 arrests as some teenagers engaged in vandalism and resisted orders. A smaller mob the following day also caused enough of a commotion to lead to several arrests.

TT/The Local/at

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FACEBOOK

Swiss court rules defamatory Facebook likes ‘can be illegal’

The Swiss Federal Court has ruled that Facebook likes and shares can be considered as illegal defamation.

Swiss court rules defamatory Facebook likes ‘can be illegal’
Photo by Kon Karampelas on Unsplash

The case was hearing a matter from the canton of Zurich says people can in some cases be punished for sharing or liking particular posts on social media, even if they did not create the content themselves. 

The case related to a dispute between animal rights activists from 2015. The perpetrator had liked and shared several posts critical of fellow animal rights activist Erwin Kessler. 

In groups like ‘Vegan in Zurich’ and ‘Indyvegan’, the perpetrator had liked and shared posts which portrayed as a neo-Nazi who harboured anti-Semitic ideas. 

The Zurich court fined the perpetrator saying the social media actions amounted to defamation. The Federal Court on Thursday upheld the verdict. 

While issues related to defamation are relatively unclear on social media – as opposed to through traditional media sources – the court held that the potential for such remarks to go ‘viral’ meant that social media actions could be defamatory in nature. 

Swiss defamation law only requires that an act be communicated to a third party in order for it to be defamatory, with online communication reaching the relevant threshold. 

The court said that it would depend on the circumstances as to whether likes and shares were likely to breach defamation laws, however a major factor was how visible the post was to others outside the immediate friend networks of the person defamed. 

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