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GOTHENBURG INSTAGRAM RIOTS

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Teens girls to be charged in Instagram riot case

Prosecutors in Gothenburg have decided to file criminal charges against two teen girls believed to be behind a "slut-shaming" account on Instagram that caused local teenagers to riot last year.

Teens girls to be charged in Instagram riot case

Speaking with the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper, prosecutor Annika Boman said she had decided to charge two girls, aged 15 and 18, with aggravated defamation.

“Charges will likely be formally filed at the end of April, but it may also take longer. New information may emerge in the investigation,” she told the newspaper.

Around 85 people have been interviewed in the investigation, which was launched after a mystery Instagram user took to the popular photo-sharing site to “shame” male and female “teen sluts” in Gothenburg by publishing pictures of them together with alleged information about their sex lives.

A riot ensued in December 2012, as hundreds of high school students assembled outside the Plusgynmasiet high school in an attempt to find the owner of the anonymous Instagram account.

Many of the young people provided investigators with screen shots of derogatory or insulting comments about them left on the Instagram account, which asked people to spread gossip about others’ sexual activities.

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

Boman explained she must determine how many of those who reported possible defamation crimes will end up being included in the indictment, speculating that “not even half” will make the cut.

TT/The Local/dl

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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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