back to article Unlawful tweets could land Twitter in Blighty's dock

Twitter could be liable in the UK for unlawful comments you make in tweets. If that seems unfair or far-fetched, a quick glance southwards at a case in Australia outlines how Twitter could end up on the hook for users' illegal actions. The crucial point for the firm and others like it in the UK is that there is no way to tell …

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  1. Benny

    Is it just me, or are these claims just a case of making some easy money?

    Can't we just tell these people to sod off, grow a backbone, and move on?

    Oh no, someone said I wrote something that I didn't, they paid me some money, so now I think Im entitled to even more money from someone else...ffs

  2. Dave 150

    The E-Commerce Regulations

    The E-Commerce Regulations

    So, what legal protections are there for ISPs? The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 (or the E-Commerce Regulations as they are commonly known), introduced a number of provisions setting out the circumstances where Internet intermediaries should not be held accountable for material which is hosted, cached or carried by them.

    For instance, Regulation 17 provides that a service provider shall not be liable for unlawful or illegal content, sent or posted by any of its users, so long as the service provider does not initiate the transmission, does not select the receiver of the transmission and does not select or modify the information contained in the transmission.

    http://www.out-law.com/page-488

    Twitter does not moderate posts/tweets so should be covered... theregister does moderate posts so would not be covered?

    1. alain williams Silver badge

      Re: The E-Commerce Regulations

      "Twitter does not moderate posts/tweets so should be covered... theregister does moderate posts so would not be covered?"

      The Register (these days) moderates post-facto -- most posts go straight up. If el-reg receives a complaint it then has to make a judgement and remove the item if it is illegal. That judgement is the tricky bit - how do the moderators know that the complaint is valid and not just someone trying to bury an inconvenient truth by hoodwinking them. Moderators will probably act on the cautious side to protect The Register from legal action.

      1. Dave 150

        Re: The E-Commerce Regulations

        When the moderator ok's a post they "publish" the post, where as unmoderated posts are "published" by the contributer

    2. auburnman
      Happy

      Re: The E-Commerce Regulations

      I would say El Reg would be okay under these regulations - They pass the checks of not initiating or selecting the receivers of the transmission, and although they reserve the right to not show posts, I would argue this is not selecting or modifying the information contained in the transmission (not carrying the message at all being different to amending or only carrying part of it, either of which could open them up to being at least part author and therefore responsible for the content.)

      1. Tom 13

        Re: The E-Commerce Regulations

        As soon as you act as editor, which includes not publishing selected posts, you are liable.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Publisher?

    I'm inclined to think that Twitter should be seen as a publisher, on the grounds that it is not simply a service for hosting generic material. It is specifically designed to disseminate the users' entries to a wide audience and that is 'publishing' to me.

  4. John Lilburne
    Flame

    What about wikipedia?

    Twitter posts are ephemeral gossip, probably more like slander in the pub than anything else. Wikipedia, which purports to be an encyclopedia, contains a whole load of libellous content, which is then discussed and mulled over by users argued and fought over and left in place for weeks, months, and years. WMF seems to be protected in US law but how liable are all the admins that participate in the talk pages and decide to leave the contested content it place?

  5. GitMeMyShootinIrons
    Unhappy

    This is all a bit dubious...

    If it's possible to sue Twitter (and any other hosting platform potentially) for words posted directly by users, isn't this a bit excessive?

    If you take this to a logical extension to print media, it's somewhat like launching a legal sh*t bomb at not only the author/publisher, but also the manufacturer of the paper and the ink manufacturers (maybe even the bookshops?) - after all, they provide the media that the views are expressed upon, much in the same way that Twitter etc. are merely the media on which posters express their views. Ridiculous, I know, but it shows how poorly written, over-complicated laws leave things firmly to the advantage of the lawyers and no-one else.

    Of course, all this suits the legal community and their lackeys in Parliament in their ever-growing need to exploit the legal system for their own financial gain, wrapping themselves in the banner of 'protecting victims rights'. I suppose it could be called intellectual ambulance chasing.

  6. The BigYin

    Not just in the UK

    Given that the UK considers its libel laws to govern the planet (hence out roaring trade in libel tourism), then the UK could (and probably will) consider Twitter and any other service globally liable.

    The only exception would be where the foreign service blocks the UK. If any person the UK viewed foo.bar.to, then that has been "published" in the UK and foo.bar.to is now liable. Despite not having staff, offices or operations in the UK

    At least, that's how it seems to work in dead-tree media.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Not just in the UK

      Compared to parts of Europe, those in the UK and the US get off lightly. At least there's some consideration of a right to free speech.

      I know of a discussion forum hosted by a tourist office based on one of the Greek islands. It recently had to shut down because although not a review site, if any of its users posted a bad comment about some hotel or restaurant, the site admins would find themselves in the local court before the end of the week. And all this while American sites host some quite shocking reviews of similar places making flat-out accusations of racism and sexual abuse by the staff.

      Reality, as the man says, is probably somewhere in between.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What?

    "Meggitt is suing Twitter, claiming that it is liable for any unlawful actions by Hardy on its service"

    Right well I'm suing Steadatler for pens and pencils that were used to write nasty things about me while I was still at school! They allowed John Hargreaves to write "George is a gay tosser!" on my geography folder!

    1. Keep Refrigerated
      Headmaster

      Re: What?

      You know, that actually takes me back to my school days and the time someone scrawled my name onto a desk in black marker pen. Because it was just my name and not "Keep R is gay..." or something like that, the teacher made me clean it off - despite my protests of innocence!

      How far we have come in 20 years...

  8. dave 81
    Facepalm

    Oh dear

    Thinking of all the times I have called certain Politicians complete cnuts on twitter....

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. Steven Jones

        Re: Oh dear

        You cannot be (successfully) sued for defamation in the UK for expressing and opinion about somebody. You have to make a claim of fact which is incorrect. So you can call somebody anything insulting you like, but if you claim (for instance), they are corrupt and can't prove it then you are in trouble. There is no defense of making such allegations as an innocent mistake (as their in the US where you have to prove malevolence as well as making an unproven allegation).

        There is a proviso to this - whilst you can't be successfuly sued for defamation, recent legislation on various forms of equality legislation can mean that racist, homophobic or similar insults can get you in trouble with the criminal law if they are considered to be liable to generate hate etc.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

  9. Wize

    Surely Twitter is not an editor/publisher

    Its more like the owner of a wall that gets covered in graffiti. If someone spray paints "Dave is a wanker" on the side wall of your house, should you be held responsible for the comment?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Surely Twitter is not an editor/publisher

      Probably, *if* David is not a wanker, and *if* you don't remove the graffiti within a short timeframe after being informed by David's lawyers that the graffiti is libellous and that David would like for it to be removed.

      But Twitter is not like a wall. Twitter is specifically designed for the posting of comments and commentary by individuals to be published to the Twitter site and feeds for others to read.

      A wall is designed to keep the roof of a house from falling on your head. And other things. But not for publication purposes.

    2. Steven Jones

      Re: Surely Twitter is not an editor/publisher

      @Wize

      Unless you take the word literally, that's what is viewed as "fair comment" and not a libel. People seem to have trouble understanding the difference between an insult and a libel.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. Tom 13

      Re: Surely Twitter is not an editor/publisher

      Not a wall, but a memo pad with more pages underneath that anyone can tear off when the top page becomes to filled with notes etc.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Tweet on...

    He who trades his freedom for security ... etc...

    Say what you mean. Consequences be damned. If nearly everyone ignores a law it's very, very hard to enforce.

    1. Tom 13

      Re: Tweet on...

      Unless Twitter are shielding the person who posted the libel/slander they should not be held accountable. If they are shielding, all bets are off.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Extradition...

    bout time we were able to use those extradition laws to our advantage...

    they wont like that much, but a crimes a crime no matter where its committed.. http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1140589--bodog-com-case-sends-warning-to-all-canadian-websites

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hold the TWIT accountable

    Twitter should not be held responsible for other people's tweets. Hold the TWIT who made the tweet, responsible.

  13. Chad H.

    Isnt this contradicted by another article

    The one that compares Blogger comments to Graffiti?

  14. Keep Refrigerated
    Big Brother

    Twit No More

    I've given up on Twitter... it was a nice concept until mainstream became aware of it's existence and the politicians, CEOs and corporations got hold of it.

    The fact that I travel for my job and the US is one of the destinations on my travel itinerary means I can't enjoy the luxury of free speech that others (read: aforementioned politicians, CEOs and corporations) seem to have on Twitter. Like this twatter for example: twitter.com/tsabloggerbob

    Twitter went from being an underground, subversive micro-blogging phenomenon to a crappy stream of filtered PR bullshit - along with a great place for anyone not rich, politik or corporati to hang themselves publicly. It's not for human beings anymore and it's not worth the risk either.

  15. Lockwood
    WTF?

    Shouldn't Twitter people then also be in trouble for threatening to blow Robin Hood up?

    Or something?

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Does Twitter have any business or assets in the UK? If not, these lawyers are speaking bull.

    1. Tom 13

      Re: Assets in country where the offence takes place

      Given the interconnected nature of so much business these days, my guess is that even without assets in [insert your country here] lawyers from [insert any other country here] can probably make life more difficult for you if they put their minds to it. I mean, freetards once thought The Pirate Bay had safe haven. Turned out, not so much.

  17. P. Lee
    Devil

    Politicians *want* this sort of thing

    so they they can claim jurisdiction. No-one wants their own country's laws to be broken (libel) only to have the courts look silly because the Big Corporate is overseas. So we must claim jurisdiction, break the internet down and put up firewalls to limit badness done by Foreigners against our fair people.

    Only then can "we the people" control this unruly series of tubes.

  18. beyond all knowledge

    Common sense. Obvious. Three words judges and lawyers really need to be able to comprehend.

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