MANILA: The government on Tuesday admitted before the Supreme Court
that liking, sharing libelous Facebook and twitter posts can make one person
criminally liable, prompting a Supreme Court Justice to say that it creates a
chilling effect.
“It is not an excuse that thousands of defamatory statements are on the
Internet. Then, we have to scrap the law,” Solicitor-General Francis Jardeleza
said during Tuesday’s oral argument.
“Defamation is defamation whether we communicate through megaphones, letters,
person to person, tweets, Facebook or e-mail,” Jardeleza added.
Associate Justice Roberto Abad said with the criminal liability that
the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 creates, “it will make me now reluctant
to express my view.”
Abad likened liking and sharing of posts on Facebooks and twitters to
showing a friend a libellous material posted on a bulletin board.
Jardeleza said, in that situation, there is no liability because it
cannot be considered a republication.
“Unless this law is clarified, it has a chilling effect,” Abad said.
Jardeleza argued that things can go viral.
“What do we do? Until either this court says reputation is not a value
anymore, this can be a difficult question,” he told Abad. - Inquirer
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