Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 20 March 2013

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications

Social Media: Discussion (Resumed) with Google and Digital Rights Ireland

11:30 am

Mr. Fergal Crehan:

Under defamation law, if one rebroadcasts or republishes a tweet, those words are regarded as one's own and one can be pursued through the courts. There is that remedy. I refer to the point raised by the Deputy about access to justice and the cost of same. If a broadcaster reads out a text or a tweet on air, those words are now the broadcaster's own and it will be liable for them.