Franse blogger veroordeeld voor negatieve review

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A French blogger has been fined ¤1,500 (£1,180) after being sued for writing a negative blogpost about a restaurant.

Caroline Doudet was sued by the restaurant's owner because her blogpost featured highly on Google searches for the restaurant, Il Giardino in Cap-Ferret, south-west France.

"I was really stunned and disgusted, and of course I will worry now [whenever I] write a negative review," Doudet said of the effect of the case on her in an email to Wired.co.uk. "I regret the article, because it's so much noise for nothing."

The blogpost in question was published in August 2013 and headlined: "The place to avoid in Cap-Ferret, Il Giardino".

According to French website Arrêt sur Images, the restaurant's owner admitted that the service Doudet received may not have been perfect, but that the article was "more of an insult than criticism" and was doing his business harm when it appeared in Google searches.

In typical internet style, Google searches for the restaurant now prominently feature articles about it suing Caroline Doudet.

Although the restaurant sued about the entire article, the judge's decision was limited to the headline, which Doudet was ordered to change. In addition to the ¤1,500 fine she had to pay ¤1,000 (£790) in court costs, bringing her total bill for writing a blogpost to ¤2,500 (£2,000).

Instead of changing the title, Doudat deleted the article, because it was "easier".

Doudet's blog, Cultur'elle, has just over 2,000 followers on Twitter and just over 3,000 Wordpress followers. The judge suggested that this exacerbated the harm her blogpost had caused to the restaurant.

"Maybe there were some errors in the service, that happens sometimes in the middle of August -- I recognise that," the restaurant owner told Arrêt sur Images. "But this article showed in the Google search results and did my business more and more harm, even though we have worked seven days a week for 15 years. I could not accept that."

Doudet said the restaurant did not contact her about the post before beginning legal proceedings, which did not amount to a full trial but rather an emergency hearing, and that she did not have time to find a lawyer, so had to represent herself.

As it was an emergency hearing, the decision will not create a legal precedent, but comes amid criticism of the European Court of Justice recently ruling in favour of a "right to be forgotten" online.

Bron: Wired

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Op vrijdag 18 juli 2014 08:33 schreef Ringo het volgende:
Hier is sprake van laster en smaad, dus terecht.

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Op vrijdag 18 juli 2014 08:54 schreef sigme het volgende:
Volgens de Franse advocaat en blogger genaamd Maître Eolas kan in het Franse recht kan via een kort geding relatief makkelijk een persoon gedwongen worden een activiteit te stoppen die schadelijk zou zijn voor een ander. De rechter moet dan een fout aan de kant van de gedaagde signaleren, het negatieve effect bij de eiser zien en een causaal verband tussen de twee kunnen leggen.

Niks politiestaat, niks verbod op negatieve recensies. Gewoon Frans recht waar je rekening mee moet houden als Fransman.

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Op vrijdag 18 juli 2014 09:35 schreef sigme het volgende:

[..]

De fout iemand anders schade te berokken.

Vrijheid van meningsuiting gaat echt over iets anders. Wanneer je iemand schade berokkent, is dat geen mening, dat is een daad. En in het Franse recht is heet eenvoudig om daarover een zaak aan te spannen, en ook niet heel bijzonder om dat te winnen. Hoewel men van mening is dat de blogger best had kunnen worden vrijgesproken wanneer ze wat juridische bijstand had ingeschakeld.