Gratuitous Defamatory Tweets About Plaintiff Not Protected As A Matter Of Public Interest

• Published date: 06 April 2021
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Trials & Appeals & Compensation, Libel & Defamation
• Law Firm: Gardiner Roberts LLP
• Author: Mr Stephen Thiele

The internet and social media have spawned much civil litigation in the area of defamation. There is no cost to obtaining a Twitter account, for example, and to "tweeting" out a widely-viewed post. For those interested in political issues, Twitter provides an individual with their soapbox to express their opinions and to attempt to hold others, such as elected politicians, to account. However, users sometimes convert their soapboxes into platforms from which to launch broad and unfounded personal attacks against others falsely wrapped in the context of debate over matters of public interest. In the law of defamation, such an attack will not be easily protected when the speaker seeks to protect himself or herself from a defamation claim.

This was the result of the court in Cheema v. Young, 2021 BCSC 461 where a Twitter user attempted to dismiss the plaintiff's defamation under British Columbia's Protection of Public Participation Act. S.B.C. 2019 c. 3 (the "PPPA"). This statute is the equivalent of Ontario's s. 137.1 of the Courts of Justice Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C-43. The purpose of these statutes is to protect public participation in matters of public interest and to prevent or limit actions commenced for the purposes of silencing individuals or organizations that speak out about, or advocate a position on, issues of public interest.

In this case, the defendant had posted a series of tweets from his Twitter soapbox that made reference to the plaintiff and reference to the appointment of a Police Chief for the City of Surrey. Following the 2018 municipal election, the newly elected Mayor of Surrey and his municipal political party which won 7 of the 8 seats on City Council, sought to create a Surrey police department to replace the policing services otherwise provided by the RCMP.

The plaintiff was a campaign volunteer for the Mayor and had known him personally for over 20 years. However, he...