Business people who use social networking sites should be very careful with the information they choose to publish given the nature of the first successful defamation and privacy law case involving a social networking site in the UK.

A company boss has been awarded £22,000 in damages over entries posted on Facebook by a former business partner which made false claims about his sexuality, religion and political views.

Bosses with an online presence should remember that libel and privacy laws in the UK apply just as much to online media as they do to newspapers and are warned not to post defamatory and private material that could leave them open to legal action.

Ralli

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