Fake news – coming up trumps
N . B . There are also some other robust laws in place to protect against malicious , negligent and false publications . It could also be possible to bring a claim for malicious falsehood .
So why don ’ t I know about all these cases in the news …?
It has been hard to overlook the latest surfacing of so called ‘ fake news ’ stories on our newsfeeds . Very recently the 2016 US presidential election campaign brought this to light . A recent study by Stanford University suggested that during the election campaign , up to 62 % of US adult citizens received their news through social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter ; and over half of those who saw a ‘ fake news ’ story recalled believing its contents . Technology now facilitates the spread of fabricated stories , and it seems as though the knee jerk reaction to the election campaign for some was to write and publish false news stories ; often with outlandish or bizarre headlines in an attempt to defame their political rivals . Some have therefore suggested that these bogus stories could have had an adverse effect on the outcome of the election .
What had initially surfaced as an innocent satirical gimmick has now kindled an effort to actively attempt to confuse real news stories with untrustworthy and dishonest anecdotes , both sides of the Atlantic . Nonetheless , fake news is not a new phenomenon . Recently the BBC reported a 100 year old story that was used to drum up support amidst a propaganda effort during the First World War , designed to demonise the enemy and encourage revulsion .
Fake news , if nothing else , undermines the public ’ s confidence in the general media . It is no exaggeration to say that it is capable of damaging one ’ s reputation , able to undermine a nation ’ s constitutional laws and unsettle a democratic process . It has the potential to bring about a very real change , and therefore induces far reaching legal implications .
The legal bit Constitutional law Constitutional law is often heralded as a complex and inaccessible area of the law . It is the area of law that concerns the powers of government , the powers of those who make the law and the powers of those who interpret the law . In this context , the values we are considering are really rather straight forward .
When it comes to elections , it is legally imperative that everyone eligible to vote has the freedom to do so in the manner they so wish . A fake news story has the ambition of changing this . A writer of these stories may intend to lower the person in the estimation of right-minded members of society – trying to skew the perception of what the person is really like . As a result of this confusion , it is often difficult to tell the true stories from the phony ones . In an election campaign , this could feasibly damage one ’ s confidence in the person and swing the minds of undecided voters . In the UK ( under section 106 ( 1 ) Representation of the People Act 1983 ) it is an illegal practice to publish a false statement about a person in an attempt to try and influence an election . This means that writing a false story in an attempt to influence the way in which people vote is a criminal offence . Not a good idea .
Pleasingly , English law goes a great deal further than this to protect victims of fake news , whether or not the subject matter of such stories is held favourably in the public ’ s eye ( the law does not discriminate ). A victim can therefore seek to bring a claim on several other bases ; seeking the greatest financial remedy available to them . Indeed , we would actively encourage a claimant to do so .
Image Rights In England although there is not one single right to one ’ s image , there are a variety of laws in place to protect a person from being misleadingly , mistakenly or falsely accused of something in a fake news story that cannot be supported and which subsequently results in their reputation being damaged . This can be contrasted with some states in the US where a person can own a right to their image .
You may have heard of defamation ( a false statement harming one ’ s reputation ) in the form of slander ( a false spoken statement ) or libel ( a false written statement ). These types of claims are often brought by a person in the news who has suffered some form of damage to their name . With the rise of ‘ fake news ’, we are seeing an increase in circumstances which could quite feasibly develop into libel claims . It is likely that those responsible for writing and publishing these articles will find themselves on the end of a very costly legal settlement , having had little forethought to the consequence of their actions .
When you are dealing with Solicitors , everything is confidential . Whether you are selling your house or defending a libel claim , your Solicitor has an obligation and a duty to keep your affairs confidential between yourself and them . It ’ s a duty to you we take very seriously .
In England the media are also restricted from reporting intimate details of legal proceedings whilst they unfold , in an effort to ensure the integrity of each case as it progresses in court . In essence , this is to protect a juror or person involved in the case from being influenced in their decision making by potentially inaccurate news stories . If a person is being prosecuted , then the publisher of stories relating to the case could be held in contempt of court – which can land them with a hefty fine and in prison . Therefore you may not be aware of many fake news stories for several reasons . It could be that no one has yet been pursued a claim or that the case is simply confidential .
There are , of course , many cases we do hear about . For starters , social media is not immune from legal action . In fact the rise of social media seems to have brought with it a surge in libel claims ( some claiming an increase of 300 %) which is as a result of users ’ lack of legal awareness and appreciation of the consequences for what they are writing . You may recall in 2013 hearing about an unfounded allegation on Twitter linking Lord McAlpine to sex abuse claims ( following a Newsnight interview ) which made its way to the High Court . Lord McAlpine was awarded £ 185,000 in settlement of the claim . More recently in February 2017 , you may have seen in the news a member of UKIP – Jane Collinsordered to pay £ 54,000 each to three MPs in damages as a result of making defamatory comments in a speech about them during a conference in 2014 .
The UK courts take the approach that anything said on social media is broadcast to the world in the same way a live television show is broadcast . Whether an individual , a company or a celebrity – you should never post anything online that you would not be confident saying in front of a camera .
By Ollie Farrant
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