Legal issue with Twitter #

nicebutdim

Hi All,

Hope that this is the right place for this? Mods, please move if not

Just looking for a little guidance, if anyone could advise please? I want to set up a hashtag on Twitter. I am concerned that about the potential abuse of the hashtag leading to legal issues. The hashtag is being set up to pool information/tweets for a particular issue. My question is who is responsible for defamatory content posted under the hashtag, is the tweeter themselves or could it brought back to me as the person who set up ? Is a disclaimer effective in these circumstances ie views are those of the tweeter and do not represent the views of any organisation or grouping etc....

I had a look on d'Internet and seen a lot of conflicting information, so was hoping for some clarity.

Thanks in advance,

NBD

biko

Did you approach twitter themselves?
http://support.twitter.com/

nicebutdim

biko wrote: »

Did you approach twitter themselves?
http://support.twitter.com/

That is an excellent suggestion. I'll do that..thanks

BrianD

Very interesting question though ... never would have thought of that aspect.

I would presume that the author is responsible for their content. The hash tag only enables aggregation of the content - I don't think that strictly speaking that it is "publishing" under a hash tag. After all, I can still see the same content irrespective of whether the hashtag is there or not.

AnCatDubh

I don't know a strict legal interpretation of things but in general terms, sites may be held liable - for example, boards.ie has a very low tolerance of libel/slander issues for the simple reason that they *could* be sued. Should that happen then if you are the one who posted an offending post, you *may* become a party to any legal action.

Yes, all negative thus far really, however in terms of what you asking, in terms of can you be personally liable for something which others would post albeit it contains a hashtag which you initiated - personally, I can't see how. You are not and cannot be held responsible for what others post. They are. You are only responsible for what you post. On boards, you are responsible for what you post and i'm guessing that boards is responsible for what is published on their site hence them being cagey around anything with 'grey' libel/slander.

The Giggs/Superinjunction/Twitter stuff would be worthwhile looking up the details of, as you had a similar situation - thousands of people posting on twitter something which was the subject of court direction.

I think in a situation like that, sense needs to prevail.

nicebutdim

AnCatDubh wrote: »

I don't know a strict legal interpretation of things but in general terms, sites may be held liable - for example, boards.ie has a very low tolerance of libel/slander issues for the simple reason that they *could* be sued. Should that happen then if you are the one who posted an offending post, you *may* become a party to any legal action.

Yes, all negative thus far really, however in terms of what you asking, in terms of can you be personally liable for something which others would post albeit it contains a hashtag which you initiated - personally, I can't see how. You are not and cannot be held responsible for what others post. They are. You are only responsible for what you post. On boards, you are responsible for what you post and i'm guessing that boards is responsible for what is published on their site hence them being cagey around anything with 'grey' libel/slander.

The Giggs/Superinjunction/Twitter stuff would be worthwhile looking up the details of, as you had a similar situation - thousands of people posting on twitter something which was the subject of court direction.

I think in a situation like that, sense needs to prevail.

Thanks for the replies, all. Lots of food for thought here. I'll contact Twitter directly and post what comes back...

Zonua

Hi OP. You don't need to worry. If you "set up" a hashtag, then you don't 'own' it. As you know, anyone can use it. You are not responsible for what other people do on Twitter. You are, of course, responsible for your own Tweets, hashtagged or not.

As I'm sure you know, there is no registration process, it's completely ad hoc.

#noneedtoworry

BuffyBot

Indeed - what's been said above is an accurate description. Your position is akin to a paper manufacturer worrying about what people might write on it. Nothing to worry about