A man whose personal information was posted on a fake Facebook profile has filed a landmark lawsuit for damages in the UK.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The suit alleges that Mr Rapheal setup the Facebook profile called ‘Has Mathew Firsht lied to you?’ after they had a falling out.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The Facebook profile also falsely indicated his sexual orientation and political affiliations.<\/p>\n
There were also false claims that Firsht’s business could not be trusted and were a credit risk.<\/p>\n
The profile was on the social network for 16 days before Mr Firsht’s brother found them. They were then removed by Facebook employees.<\/p>\n