As multiple versions emerged of a videotaped confrontation between Catholic teens in MAGA gear and a 65-year-old Native American at the Lincoln Memorial, one lawyer is exploring whether social media critics can be sued.
Robert Barnes, an attorney and Law&Crime columnist, has reached out to some of the Covington Catholic High School students’ families about possibly filing lawsuits over the social media vitriol the high schoolers have faced.
“Anyone who issued false statements that cast the kids in a false light & fail to retract/correct” could face lawsuits, Barnes told Law&Crime.
Some critics deleted tweets and apologized, and the repercussions on them are doubtful. But those who didn’t back down from initial criticism could be liable, according to Law&Crime’s Ronn Blitzer.
“Those who reasonably relied on the information that was out there, however, could be in the clear if they later made corrections, since defamation laws generally have a standard of negligence when it comes to private citizens,” Blitzer wrote.
“If they had no reason to believe that what they were saying was wrong, they may not be liable. Of course, once new information came to light, those who didn’t correct inaccurate accounts or continued to present them could be in trouble.”
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