Posted by Eugene Volokh: Twitter Post Yields Libel Lawsuit: http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_07_26-2009_08_01.shtml#1248817149
[1]Law Librarian Blog reports: "Horizon Group Management, of Chicago, who filed a libel lawsuit against a former tenant who tweeted 'Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it�s okay.'" The blog post has a pointer to the complaint, and a news story. Libel law generally speaking applies equally to newspapers, blog posts, Twitter, and pretty much any other written medium. And the important medium distinction -- that under 47 U.S.C. � 230, online services aren't liable for things posted by their users, while offline institutions such as newspapers and even bookstores potentially are, especially if they are notified that the material is libelous -- doesn't apply here, since the lawsuit is against the author, not against Twitter. Still, this struck me as worth noting, since it's the first Twitter libel lawsuit I've heard of. Many thanks to Vicki Steiner for the pointer. References 1. http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/2009/07/tweeting-spawns-a-defamation-suit.html
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