What if I say something ‘political’ on twitter and in response someone then says something terrible about me on Twitter?
More people are having their say on Twitter and on blogs and on the internet. Lots of this amounts to political statements about what’s going on in society. So what happens when you say something like ‘I love eating meat’, and a prominent anti-meater calls you a ‘murderer’ on social media?
The old rule in Ontario was that you can’t randomly slander someone in public statements. In other words you can’t call someone a ‘murderer’. So you sue the guy. What if Mr. ‘Never-Meat’ says: ‘hey, you engaged in public discourse I can say whatever I want about you.’
The Court of Appeal in Lascaris v. B’nai Brith (2019), 144 O.R.(3d) 211 says: No! Although freedom of expression and ‘fair comment’ are general rules in Ontario, it’s not Thunder-dome. You can’t honestly call someone a ‘murderer’ because they like hamburgers. These are not quite the facts in Lascaris, but you get the idea.
