The student
who posted offensive tweets following the collapse of Bolton Wanderers
footballer Fabrice Muamba has lost his appeal against a 56 day prison sentence –
This
emphasises again the need for great care in the use of Social Media. From the
comfort of his living room Mr Stacey presumably felt that it was safe to post
whatever he liked without considering the impact it would have.
Earlier
this year a footballer got into trouble for posting a homophobic tweet –
And there
was also the case of the barrister who was disciplined after insulting
opponents using twitter.
We live in
an age where social media seems to take over our lives. And there have been
many benefits. I tweet on a regular basis.
But these
cases demonstrate that posting on these sites does not place anybody above or
outside of the law. Employees could lose their jobs or employers could find
themselves sued simply because they decided to tweet first and think later.
Whenever
you post something just stop and think –
Who is
going to read this?
What effect
will it have on them?
How might
it rebound on me?
And then
weigh up whether it is really worth it.
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