Philippine libel laws to be tested by social media
Much publicized cosmetic surgery practitioner Dr. Vicky Belo has just filed a libel suit against lawyer Argee Guevarra for the latter’s stream of remarks on Facebook regarding the doctor’s questionable track record. Check out the details of the issue here.
The truth though is that we now live in a time where the empowerment of consumers is strong because of social media venues that go against the paradigm of command-and-control of information.
MOB RULES
Anyone with a gripe or praise can express their opinion to the crowd allowing this word-of-mouth effect on steroids to find its own velocity. More importantly, the relevance or credibility of the information is either supported or downplayed by the crowd itself. In this case, Guevarra’s opinion is the only side being reinforced by the resulting response from the crowd. Rebuttal’s or contrary opinions are currently non-existent from the social media space.
Instead, Belo has resorted to a libel lawsuit and, according to Guevarra’s posts on Facebook, smear campaigns aimed at him through SMS messages to journalists. Now that’s old school. No chance of eliciting the crowd’s support there.
BRASS TACKS
Unfortunately for Belo, there are two major flaws in her complaint against Guevarra.
- There is no such thing as Internet Libel Law and a recent blog based lawsuit, Alfonso Yuchengco/Pacific Plans vs. Philip Piccio, was dismissed by the Department of Justice for that reason, and
- a Facebook network of friends posseses the characteristics of a closed and private network making Guevarra’s comments privileged and confidential in nature and protected by the constitution as free speech.
There’s no hiding from social media and the best that you can do is to listen and take part in the conversations. Better yet, clean up your act because social media has made the crowd braver and noisier than ever before.
