The (messy, sad) Johnny Depp / Amber Heard trial continues to have strange knock-on effects: a legal YouTuber called “Nate the Lawyer” sued the CEO of Bot Sentinel for defamation over tweets that included questioning whether or not “Nate” was really a lawyer at all.
Fair game, says the court. Eric Goldman has the writeup, noting that “The court essentially characterizes Twitter as an anything-goes hellscape, at least when it comes to online feuds.” Here’s the court:
Twitter is a public forum where a reasonable reader will expect to find many more opinions than facts… Twitter is a forum where a user, “in the same setting and with the same audience, has the immediate opportunity to air his competing view” and thus may generally remedy any defamation with “self-help” rather than rely on litigation.
Yep, sounds about right.
[Technology & Marketing Law Blog]
