Elon Musk goes to court . . .

[StriderX]

Realistically i imagine the plaintiff had a contemptible attack strategy, he needed to prove two things,

- Firstly to prove that someone who saw the tweet believes that under Musk's immense profile that they'd believe without evidence that the plaintiff is 'a pedo guy', ergo damage to his image.

- Secondly they needed to prove that financial damages had occurred at all to even bother with assumed damages or punitive damages.

The first is the most important and hardest to get right i imagine, especially since this is a case about a twitter defamation... i doubt anyone would remember or care about the plaintiff after a short period of time, as you lose the immediate context and shock of the discourse. The nature of social media makes trials like this inherently difficult and the plaintiff really needed to make sure they could prove this point, as the defence has an easy ride otherwise.

I wonder how it will affect future cases or whether its now entirely fine to call people pedos with no evidence on Twitter.

 

[mmj_uk]

I wonder how it will affect future cases or whether its now entirely fine to call people pedos with no evidence on Twitter.

I'm sure further social media censorship will step in to save us. I don't agree with the ruling (nor the demand of $190m in damages) but at least it went through the proper legal system unlike a lot of things on social media these days.

 

[Mark A]

I bet if this played out in a UK court, the UK jury would have found him guilty. Just shows how broken the system is.

 

[StriderX]

I'm sure further social media censorship will step in to save us. I don't agree with the ruling (nor the demand of $190m in damages) but at least it went through the proper legal system unlike a lot of things on social media these days.

I'd rather social media was erased from human discourse than censor it, it's a net damage to society, so I really don't care about the former issue.

Indeed this wouldn't even be happening had Twitter not existed.

 

[mjt]

I bet if this played out in a UK court, the UK jury would have found him guilty. Just shows how broken the system is.

No, it shows how different laws are in the UK and the USA.
Have a read up on English defamation law.

 

[gronf]

I wonder how it will affect future cases or whether its now entirely fine to call people pedos with no evidence on Twitter.

Well, it's fine for me to use against the odd Russian bot whose cyber-uncanny valley catches me off-guard whilst also reassuring me (in a from-Russia-with-love sort of way, if you catch my drift ) that they won't sue, like a sippy cup as a lad keeping it's stupendous promise not to spill on my big-boy trousers.....that's for sure.

 

[Semple]

It's not about the settlement money

If it wasn't about the settlement money he wouldn't have tried to sue for such a high amount. Ergo it clearly was about the settlement money.

He saw a rich celebrity throw an insult his way and decided to try and sue him for libel damages. Thankfully common sense prevailed and the guy got laughed out of court.

 

[stockhausen]

No message.

 

[LOAM]

I thought this had all died at the time when Musk apologised to the chap? Did he take him to court anyway?

Am I living under a rock?

 

[Mr Jack]

I agree. Some harm was done, so some degree of compensation was deserved. But not $190M. Not anywhere near $190M. Although where did that number come from?

It's best to ignore these numbers, they're a quirk of the US system. There was no expectation that he'd get anywhere near that much even if he had won.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Meanwhile the unfortunate person involved in saving the lives of some children has his reputation ruined

Is there actually any evidence of this? I've seen this posted a few times but no evidence to back it up.....

This is one of the things you have to show to bring a libel case in the states. According to the posters above they focused on the emotional side and not representational damage. The only reason I can think of why a competent lawyer would do this is because the evidence of reputation damage is/was weak.

Did they both make fools of themselves by engaging in a tit for tat 'twitter war' on the internet? Yes, absolutely! But I don't think people genuinely believe the diver is a 'pedo guy' therefore a case for defamation (or libel as they call it in the states) would be weak.

 

[Sankari]

Meanwhile the unfortunate person involved in saving the lives of some children has his reputation ruined

Evidence please.

 

[Roar87]

If it makes you feel good you can just think anything you like. But don't ascribe it to me. Your words are yours, not mine. Whatever engineering work he might do in his spare time doesn't stop the fact that his primary expertise is publicity.

He's not the messiah. He's a very naughty boy.

He has a degree in physics and owns an electric car company as well as a company that puts rockets into space, I think he might know a few things about engineering. Just stop taking utter rubbish

 

[FoxEye]

An ambulance chasing law firm saw a arrogant fake Messiah throw an insult someone's way and decided to sue for libel damages.

Thankfully the Messiah's wealth and meeja obsessed fanbase prevailed and the lawyers got laughed out of court.

Meanwhile the unfortunate person involved in saving the lives of some children has his reputation ruined

Pretty much, but let's not forget Musk said, "If he's innocent, why doesn't he sue me?"

The man is obviously a grade-A penis. Just a very, very wealthy one who can afford his own "justice".

 

[Jean-F]

I bet if this played out in a UK court, the UK jury would have found him guilty. Just shows how broken the system is.

My wife asked me if Unsworth had to bring the libel case against Musk in the U.S., as Musk is a U.S. citizen, (although he also apparently holds South African and Canadian citizenship.)
I said that I doubted it, but perhaps he’d been advised to go that way, but my cynical mind leaned toward thinking that if he’d won, he might have got bigger bucks in the U.S, than in U.K.
Personally, if I was ever labelled as a paedo, all I’d want is for a court to severely censure whoever said it, declare it to be a totally unwarranted slur, and give me a token £5000 for any temporary social embarrassment I may have suffered.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

My wife asked me if Unsworth had to bring the libel case against Musk in the U.S., as Musk is a U.S. citizen, (although he also apparently holds South African and Canadian citizenship.)
I said that I doubted it, but perhaps he’d been advised to go that way, but my cynical mind leaned toward thinking that if he’d won, he might have got bigger bucks in the U.S, than in U.K.
Personally, if I was ever labelled as a paedo, all I’d want is for a court to severely censure whoever said it, declare it to be a totally unwarranted slur, and give me a token £5000 for any temporary social embarrassment I may have suffered.

Why would a UK court ever hear this, one person was in Thailand, the other was in the USA (or Thailand - not clear on the timeline) on a online social media network headquartered in the USA when it happened...?

That's also not how libel works, you would have to prove that you actually suffered material harm (e.g. reputation which is hard to prove, earnings which is far easier or something else), especially when you started it. I'm sorry but getting into an embarrassing (for both parties) tit for tat argument on twitter with a celebrity is not material harm on its own. Where is the evidence of any lasting or material harm as a result of the specific comment?

 

[StriderX]

He has a degree in physics and owns an electric car company as well as a company that puts rockets into space, I think he might know a few things about engineering. Just stop taking utter rubbish

None of which would exist without huge government subsidy, funny that, corporate welfare is good, anything else is gulags.

 

[dragonslayer]

Everyone saying Unsworth reputation wasn't tarnished yet he has been REPEATEDLY called and named "pedo guy" in this very thread surely that counts as his reputation being tarnished as he is no longer known for his actual name/work but rather known for an insult thrown at him

 

[Roar87]

None of which would exist without huge government subsidy, funny that, corporate welfare is good, anything else is gulags.

Tesla and SpaceX are completely privately funded, what are you talking about?

 

[StriderX]

Tesla and SpaceX are completely privately funded, what are you talking about?

https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html

Does he deserve it? Probably, but to say he's done this himself is a bit naughty.

Obviously he had money to invest in the first place and pitched something that has ultimately worked out, but could it have been such a stellar rise without the subsidies? I dunno.

That isn't to say it's not normal, obviously other businesses rely on such, but that doesn't deflate my point it just enhances it, a lot of companies in the US rely on government handouts, how do we know that he didn't simply get lucky? Well I suppose his fortitude and abilities since then might prove otherwise, he is unmistakably a driven person and i'd never criticise him for that. I just think this deification of him needs tempering.