Reading Time: 5 minutes Social media and the Internet have raised new issues in defamation law and challenged Canadian courts. U.S. Congresswoman Taylor Greene was in the news recently for posting controversial comments on Facebook about Democrats and the FBI. In response to a CNN article about these comments, Greene tweeted: “Many posts have been liked. Many posts have […]
Kent v Postmedia: The Largest Individual Defamation Award Given in Alberta
Reading Time: 4 minutes On June 8, 2016, the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta released a 60-page ruling in the cases of Kent v. Martin, and Kent v. Postmedia, awarding $150,000 in general damages for the print publication of a defamatory article, and a further $50,000 for continuing online publication. Costs of the legal proceedings remain to be […]
Defamation by Hyperlink
Reading Time: 5 minutes Introduction The Supreme Court of Canada’s 2011 decision in the case of Crookes v. Newton is a prime example of how individual rights as ephemeral as reputation must be balanced with other freedoms, such as expression, in this powerful, evolving medium of the Internet. Facts Website owner Jon Newton posted an article on his site […]
