The case could have been a major test of whether social media platforms are responsible for what their users post in Canada
West Vancouver billionaire Frank Giustra has settled his defamation lawsuit against Twitter out of court.
Giustra filed a civil suit in British Columbia Superior Court in 2019, alleging that the social media giant knowingly allowed false and defamatory statements about him to be published on the platform.
Because of his support for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and his support for the Clinton Foundation, Giustra and his charitable work became the subject of right-wing conspiracy charges, his claim said.
Some of the publications cited in the civil suit refer to Giustra, who founded Lionsgate Entertainment and numerous other ventures in mining, securities and agriculture, as “corrupt”, “murderous thief”, “criminal” and that he was involved in Pizzagate, a “discredited and malicious conspiracy theory in which he was labeled a ‘pedophile.’ Other posts were threats to his life.
At Giustra’s request, some of the statements were deleted from the website, but the company ignored or refused to remove others and allowed additional false, offensive or threatening tweets to be posted, the suit states.
Twitter twice tried to dismiss the civil suit in the British Columbia Supreme Court and the British Columbia Court of Appeal, arguing that it should have been filed in California, where the company is headquartered (and where the law expressly grants social media companies immunity against prosecution for the content users post on their platforms).
When Twitter filed a response to Giustra’s suit in 2022, the company’s lawyers argued that Twitter itself was not a “publisher” and that by signing up for an account, Giustra agreed to the company’s terms, absolving Twitter of responsibility for the actions of third-party users.
They further argued that Giustra’s reputation was not actually harmed because many of the tweets in question were “incoherent” and would not change the opinions of “right-thinking members of the public”.
An update filed in British Columbia Superior Court on Jan. 6 formally dismisses Giustra’s lawsuit by mutual consent and orders Giustra and Twitter to cover their own legal costs.
The terms of Giustra’s settlement with Twitter are not public, and Giustra’s attorney, Fred Kozak, said they could not offer further comment on the settlement.
While the courts won’t answer the question of whether Twitter is legally responsible for the tweets that were the subject of the lawsuit, the case provided some clarity on whether or not similar cases can be tried here, Kozak said.
“Mr. Giustra brought this action because he wanted to hold Twitter accountable in circumstances where it was aware of defamatory, hateful and threatening tweets made on its platform by anonymous users, but refused to remove them,” he said. However, Mr. Giustra was successful in both the British Columbia Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, confirming that Twitter’s liability can be determined in British Columbia courts.”
brichter@nsnews.com twitter.com/brentrichter
Add Comment