Alan Jones just lost a landmark defamation case by making what his own lawyers admit were unsupportable statements Incoming: 100,000 angry right-wing column inches about how crap our defamation laws are despite this being a problem FOR DECADES
Seriously, Australian defamation laws are easily abused, and often essentially a tool for the rich to silence people who cannot afford to fight their claims in court
-
-
The way defamation works, it is both fairly easy to defame someone and extremely expensive to defend the defamation
Show this thread -
Many defamation claims settle very quickly because EVEN IF YOU WIN you're likely 10,000s out of pocket, much which you will probably never recover
Show this thread -
So a rich person can sue you for defamation, and unless you have enormous sums lying around - or are a lawyer - you'll often be forced to cave
Show this thread -
This ENORMOUS imposition on free speech is totally ignored by many right-wing commentators who self-describe as 'free speech warriors' because it's mostly used by rich people to control the poor
Show this thread -
This is why the incessant noise about
#18C comes off as so hypocritical. Defamation is a far larger issue in terms of free speech, but it's not the freedom for old white men to be racist so libertarians rarely discuss itShow this thread -
To paraphrase a barrister I know: "You can defend your defamation and win, but that means you're already on the hook for enormous amounts in legal fees for the litigation. Better to settle and move on"
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.