The landmark libel case between Netflix and Baby Reindeer brought defamation into the spotlight, but one legal expert has warned these laws aren’t just for the world of celebrity and even the simple act of sharing a meme could land you with significant fines.
Aruna Verma, Moorgate Campus Dean and Associate Professor at The University of Law (ULaw) says defamation laws apply to any form of media that could be deemed harmful to a person’s character.
The Baby Reindeer case is of course on a monumental scale resulting in potentially huge payouts, but the everyday Internet user could easily run into trouble at the click of a button.
Aruna explains: “While still a very modern form of media, memes have been at the centre of many legal battles for years now. By their nature memes are inherently shareable, designed to spread far and wide across the Internet. However, the further a meme spreads the worse the outcome could be for the creator.
“The world of memes is a complex one, but ultimately laws around defamation are clear. Anything that intentionally spreads false information about a person, business or product that damages reputation or credibility could be deemed defamatory, and result in the creator being made to pay hefty damages – often thousands of pounds.”
For those sharing memes they didn’t create, this is something of a legal minefield too. Many online creators have been caught short sharing memes they didn’t create, or including images they don’t own, and ended up with significant fines.
One now infamous example is the “socially awkward penguin” meme. Thousands took to the Internet to share various iterations of this meme, before Getty Images clamped down, supposedly demanding $1,000 per user for use of the image.
According to ULaw, defamation and copyright aren’t the only concerns either. Multiple historic cases have found creators guilty based on invasion of privacy i.e. sharing images of a person without their consent. In the case of Baby Reindeer this is the basis of Fiona Harvey’s significant case against Netflix, as she claims defamation and invasion of privacy for how her character is depicted in the show.
Aruna adds: “Memes are such an engrained part of our everyday life, it’s so easy to click share and not really give them much thought. However, in the legal world memes are causing huge waves. For a long time Article 17, the so-called ‘meme ban’, had Internet users worried that memes could be gone forever until the EU announced that memes and GIFs would be exempt from the directive.
“The main lesson to be learned is to always be mindful of what you share online. Something could seem harmless, yet everything is traceable and everything that goes online is permanent – even if you think it isn’t. So, always think twice before you click share, or you could easily find yourself embroiled in a legal battle over a meme.”