Category : Twitter joke trial
Has Ireland reintroduced criminal libel?
An Irish court has created a precedent where damage to a person’s reputation could lead to criminal sanction -- and no one seems to have noticed, writes Padraig Reidy
Prosecutor to launch consultation on social media guidelines
The Director of Public Prosecutions has announced a consultation to establish clear guidelines on prosecutions involving social media . In a statement on The Crown Prosecution Service website announcing that footballer Daniel Thomas — investigated for allegedly homophobic tweets about Olympic divers Tom Daley and Peter Waterfield — will not be prosecuted, Keir Starmer QC said: “To ensure that […]
Twitter joke trial on Airstrip One
Christopher Hitchens believed that the battle for free speech is “an all out confrontation between the ironic and the literal mind”. Today at the Royal Courts of Justice, a significant blow was struck for the forces of irony, humour and free speech against the dead, literal, bureaucratic mind. Paul Chambers’ ordeal, which ended today when […]
UK: Paul Chambers wins Twitter Joke Trial appeal
Paul Chambers, the man at the centre of the Twitter Joke Trial who was found guilty in 2010 of sending a “menacing” tweet, has won his appeal against his conviction. At the Royal Courts of Justice this morning the appeal was allowed “on the basis that this tweet did not constitute or include a message […]