3 ms·

Lawyers Alarmed After Eighth Circuit Rules in Devin Nunes' Favor

5 points by donohoe 5y ago

AnimalMuppet 5y ago
I'm not a big censorship supporter. I'm not a big supporter of "use libel laws to impose censorship", either. But I think this article is overlooking one detail, and it matters. Ryan Lizza wrote an article with some facts and lots of innuendo that attacked Devin Nunes. Nunes sued for libel. The court pointed out that you can use facts to paint a misleading picture (which is totally true), and that doing so can amount to defamation (which I think I agree with). In the end, though, they didn't rule in favor of Nunes on that point. Where they ruled for Nunes: Lissa tweeted a link to the article, with some clickbait teasers to draw views. The court said that doing so was a "republication" and, since the court case was already in progress by a month, by then it was known that the contents were in dispute. Legal scholars are having a fit about this. The linked article says, > In other words, if the panel’s ruling is allowed to stand, people who share articles that have been the subject of defamation lawsuits may be held liable if a plaintiff can adequately show that the person who shared the article had knowledge of the lawsuit’s existence. But the thing that I think drove this decision is that it wasn't just any tweeter. It was the article's author who tweeted. He absolutely knew the lawsuit was there, since he was the one being sued. He can't hide behind "I didn't know the article was false" for the tweet. Now, I'm still not sure it's the right decision. But it's at least reasonable to say that, if you wrote something and you're getting sued because it was false in a way that slandered someone, maybe you shouldn't continue drumming up clicks for the false thing you wrote. If you do think it was the wrong decision, note that it's just a circuit decision. It can be appealed to the Supreme Court. It also isn't currently binding outside the bounds of the 8th Circuit.
- johng 5y ago
  Thank you for this post. I was having a hard time trying to find out why this was such big news. It makes sense now.

5 points by donohoe 5y ago

I'm not a big censorship supporter. I'm not a big supporter of "use libel laws to impose censorship", either. But I think this article is overlooking one detail, and it matters. Ryan Lizza wrote an article with some facts and lots of innuendo that attacked Devin Nunes. Nunes sued for libel. The court pointed out that you can use facts to paint a misleading picture (which is totally true), and that doing so can amount to defamation (which I think I agree with). In the end, though, they didn't rule in favor of Nunes on that point. Where they ruled for Nunes: Lissa tweeted a link to the article, with some clickbait teasers to draw views. The court said that doing so was a "republication" and, since the court case was already in progress by a month, by then it was known that the contents were in dispute. Legal scholars are having a fit about this. The linked article says, > In other words, if the panel’s ruling is allowed to stand, people who share articles that have been the subject of defamation lawsuits may be held liable if a plaintiff can adequately show that the person who shared the article had knowledge of the lawsuit’s existence. But the thing that I think drove this decision is that it wasn't just any tweeter. It was the article's author who tweeted. He absolutely knew the lawsuit was there, since he was the one being sued. He can't hide behind "I didn't know the article was false" for the tweet. Now, I'm still not sure it's the right decision. But it's at least reasonable to say that, if you wrote something and you're getting sued because it was false in a way that slandered someone, maybe you shouldn't continue drumming up clicks for the false thing you wrote. If you do think it was the wrong decision, note that it's just a circuit decision. It can be appealed to the Supreme Court. It also isn't currently binding outside the bounds of the 8th Circuit.

johng 5y ago
Thank you for this post. I was having a hard time trying to find out why this was such big news. It makes sense now.