Lawyers warn Courtney Love defamation case could set ‘Twibel’ precedent
Lawyers are warning that the first libel case involving Twitter to hit the courtrooms of the US could set a social media precedent for defamation.
It centres on a case in which actress and musician Courtney Love was accused of defaming her own former lawyer in a tweet posted back in 2010.
Speaking to On The Media American lawyer Ellyn Angelotti said: “Courtney Love said in a tweet ‘I was f@cking devastated when Rhonda J. Homes Esq of San Diego was bought off…’
“So she was angry that her attorney would not represent her in a fraud case she wanted to bring against the people who were managing the estate of her late husband Kurt Cobain.
Dismissing her claims that the tweet should be read in context of the internet as her opinion the judge ruled that the case should go to jury trial.
“The law around defamation is very ambiguous in regard to social media, we’re seeing all of these people say horrible things about one another online and treating Twitter like the Wild, Wild West because the courts don’t understand the technology well enough to regulate it.”