Article: “The Subject Liable for Damages in Cases of Personal Rights Infringement on Social Media”

Lawrel’s Legal Counsel – Mr. Nguyen Tan Hoang Hai, LL.M. – has co-authored an article titled: “The Subject Liable for Damages in Cases of Personal Rights Infringement on Social Media,” published in the People’s Court Journal, No. 17 (2020).

Lawrel would like to present an excerpt from the article’s Introduction:

“A social network is an information system that provides a community of users with services for storing, providing, using, searching for, sharing, and exchanging information with one another. This includes services for creating personal electronic information pages, forums, online chats, sharing audio and images, and other similar forms of service” (Clause 22, Article 3 of Decree No. 72/2013/ND-CP of the Government, dated July 15, 2013, on the management, provision, and use of internet services and online information).

In practice, social media sites offer users numerous benefits thanks to their rapid information speed, rich content, and dynamic, engaging formats. When used appropriately, social media helps individuals exchange information, entertain themselves, and conduct online business effectively. It also serves as a vital channel for quickly and timely disseminating the government’s policies, guidelines, and laws to the public.

However, there are also many cases where social media users, most commonly on Facebook, post information (images, videos, articles, etc.) with content that infringes upon the honor, dignity, reputation, or other personal rights of others. When these rights are violated, the victim has the right to demand the cessation of the infringing act, demand a public apology or correction, and demand compensation for damages (Article 11 of the 2015 Civil Code).

Within the scope of this article, we will focus only on one of the civil remedies, which is compensation for damages. Specifically, we will analyze the liability for damages of subjects participating on social media towards the person whose rights have been infringed. Here, we will analyze, in turn, the potential for attributing liability to: (I) the person who posts the information on the social network, (II) those who “like,” “share,” are “tagged,” and “comment” on the social network, and (III) the social network service provider.

In the relationship with the person whose rights have been infringed, the liability for damages analyzed is non-contractual liability for damages. Therefore, the article focuses on this type of liability.”

Please see the introduction to this journal issue at: https://tapchitoaan.vn/…/gioi-thieu-noi-dung-tap-chi…