Legal experts divided on whether retweeting defamatory content amounts to defamation
Published by Moneycontrol
While some lawyers believe abetment to defamation is an addition to the scope of the existing law, others say any defamatory published material is covered by the existing law, and that retweeting is a form of publication.
The recent Delhi High Court (HC) judgement holding that retweeting a social media post carrying defamatory content will amount to defamation has left legal experts divided, while a section of experts note that it expands the scope of defamation law, another section noted that it upholds the law.
Senior advocate and former Additional Solicitor General, Sanjay Jain, noted that the heart of defamation in India is the publication of defamatory material. He said, “Needless to say that the publication includes the mode of tweeting or any other mode of publication in cyber space. This obviously would include retweeting.”