Social networking sites Facebook and Twitter make it extremely easy for anyone with an internet hookup to broadcast their thoughts, feelings, what they had for breakfast or any other trivial tidbits about their lives to the world.
Maybe it's too easy, as the World Wide Web is now awash in a tidal wave of rants and raves too numerous to track. But if your status updates and tweets spread vicious rumors, especially if they pertain to a business, that's a whole other story.
Defamation is defamation whether it's spoken, written or tweeted.
Chicagoans may recall Amanda Bonnen's allegedly libelous tweet (Sun-Times) over the summer, under her Twitter handle "abonnen," to her 20 followers about the (allegedly) moldy conditions of her apartment. To refresh your memory, here is her 83-character tweet:
You should just come anyway. Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty think it's okay.
Apartment manager Horizon Group Management LLC somehow caught wind of the thinly broadcast screed and sued Bonnen for "maliciously and wrongfully" defaming them. If Horizon wins its suit -- and it's fair to say that its lawyers are paid more than hers -- then she'll have to pony up $50,000 in damages.
All for one little comment that, it's worth mentioning, would have scarcely been noticed if not for Horizon's legal action (civil suits are part of the public record). One has to ask whether the company shot itself in the foot by shining such a bright spotlight on her tweet.
Who wants to rent from a company that at best has an itchy trigger finger for lawsuits against tenants and at worst might have a mold problem in its apartments?
Technically it is libel if her statement is patently false, although it was really just a digital version of making a snarky comment to a visiting friend (but where do we draw the line between online "friends" and the general public?). Her only defense would be the truthfulness of the tweet, in which case she might have cause for a lawsuit against Horizon.
Perhaps Bonnone's tweet was not twittered with the hopes of damaging the company's reputation, but it shows just how careful you want to be when blasting your thoughts and opinions across the web.
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Directory of Chicago injury lawyers (FindLaw)
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Horizon v. Bonnen (PDF, Chicago Now)
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Elements of Libel and Slander (FindLaw)
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Twitter Rules of Use (Twitter.com)
