A reported judgment of the Dutch Reformed Church vs Rayan Sooknunan holds a lot of interest for people who are interested in the issue of freedom of speech and the Internet. The judgment of Judge Satchwell confirms that there are always limitations placed upon one’s freedom of expression, having regard to human dignity, equality and freedom. In other words, you cannot express your opinion whenever and wheresoever and about whomsoever one chooses regardless of the consequences.

Much of the defamation in this case took place on Facebook and on a Facebook wall, and Rayan Sooknunan basically denied that he had control over what was written on that Facebook wall, but Judge Satchwell disagreed with this saying that your wall on Facebook is like a notice board in a public passage, and if people put things up on that notice board, in the public passage that are defamatory or unlawful, then the person who is in charge of that page, which is normally the user, has an obligation to monitor what is on that page and take those comments down. In other words, just because somebody else wrote it, you cannot ignore it and say it is not you, because its on your page and its your responsibility.

This is the same principle as a newspaper which has to take responsibility for the contents of its pages. Rayan Sooknunan also published the personal contact details of individuals as well as their e-mail addresses and the Court held that in doing this is a “gross invasion of privacy”. Only the individuals themselves can make available their contact details, if they want to make them available. An interdict was granted, Rayan Sooknunan had to pay all of the costs of the application and he was also directed to remove e-mail addresses of individuals that he had published, including that of an attorney as well as their residential and business addresses and to remove same from the Facebook wall. The lesson is to be careful of not only what you write on the Internet, but make sure that no forum or website where you have a page where others may contribute or write comments, contains any defamatory comments or unlawful comments or indeed violates the privacy of others by for example, without their permission, publishing their contact details so friends of yours or other people you know may harass them.