Evil lies in the grapevine effect

In what is believed to be the first Twitter defamation trial in Australia, “[a] NSW school teacher has made legal history after a former student was ordered to pay $105,000 for defaming her on Twitter and Facebook.” In determining the appropriate damages, Judge Elkaim SC of the NSW District Court (the equivalent of Victoria’s County Court) took into account that “when defamatory publications are made on social media it is common knowledge that they spread. … Their evil lies in the grapevine effect that stems from the use of this type of communication.”