A man whose personal information was posted on a fake Facebook profile has filed a landmark lawsuit for damages in the UK.
A fake personal profile for Mathew Firsht was created on the Facebook social network using his name, date of birth and falsely showing him as a memember or some gay groups.
The fake profile also falsely stated that Firsht was ‘Looking for whatever I can get’ in his relationship entry and had avoided repaying personal loans.
Firsht has now filed a lawsuit against former friend and classmate Grant Rapheal for libel and misuse of his private information. This is believed to be the first defamation case involving Facebook in the UK.
The suit alleges that Mr Rapheal setup the Facebook profile called ‘Has Mathew Firsht lied to you?’ after they had a falling out.
Mr Firsht’s lawyer Lorna Skinner stated that the private personal information that was posted to the false Facebook profile included his location, activities, date of birth and relationship details.
The Facebook profile also falsely indicated his sexual orientation and political affiliations.
There were also false claims that Firsht’s business could not be trusted and were a credit risk.
The profile was on the social network for 16 days before Mr Firsht’s brother found them. They were then removed by Facebook employees.
Source: ThisIsLondon.co.uk