If you admin a social media page or group, it’s becoming increasingly more important to make sure the information provided is factual and does not cause a panic.
Controversy may get you more hits but it may also get you in trouble with the law.
A Tennessee man was recently arrested according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation due to:
”On December 27th, at the request of 28th Judicial District Attorney General Frederick Agee, TBI agents began investigating allegations of threatening social media posts on the Facebook pages “Gibson County TN Crime Watch and West Tennessee Crime Watchers.” During the course of the investigation, agents determined that the details of the social media posts were unfounded and traced the postings to the page administrator, Carson Lane Pledge (DOB: 4/3/04).
Saturday, agents obtained an arrest warrant charging Pledge with False Reports – Emergency, Bomb, Fire. Pledge was booked into the Gibson County Jail.”
Most people do not know they can be arrested and/or sued for social media posts. Law enforcement agencies across the country have started going after some of these people.
Additionally, many don’t realize they can be sued for libel: https://www.hanley-law.com/blog/can-i-sue-for-bad-reviews-against-my-business/
Just as reviewers on Yelp. Some were sued by restaurant and other business owners for libel. They won their case because the reviewers couldn’t provide proof of truth.
Admins of Facebook groups are on the shakiest ground of all because they are equally responsible for the content they allow in their groups, along with the author of the post.
The next time you have an unpleasant experience at a store or restaurant, you may want to think twice before getting on Facebook trashing the business because you can be sued. You’ll need to be able to prove your statement and the business owner will need to be able to prove damages.
It’s likely we’ll start hearing of more cases in the coming months.