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Jury clears Elon Musk of defamation charge for calling that cave diver a "pedo guy"
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
He should get something. Getting publicly labeled a pedo by a well knowj person on Twitter is a no-no.........
........... but so is asking for $190 million?!?!?! WTF.
........... but so is asking for $190 million?!?!?! WTF.
ZeroGravity
Member
This is the correct outcome. It wasn't a statement of fact so much as it was an insult. Otherwise hey, let's go after everyone who's ever called someone who likes anime a pedophile.
Stouffers
Banned
Or 20 chicks 1.9 times.
Fushitsusha
Banned
Why did he call him that?
Ownage
Member
He sought ass to ass, Requiem for a Dream style.
Hoya Destroyer
Member
That guy was giving some tv interview about the Thai cave rescue, and the interviewer asked him what he thought about Musk bringing in his tech to help. The guy said it was just a PR stunt and that Musk could "stick it where it hurts". Musk fired back with the pedo comment.
I think if you want to throw insults at people, you gotta be prepared to cop some back, so Im glad this guy lost the court case.
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StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
The thing is Musk kept up the insults. No doubt he tried to joke he's a child molester.
For someone who's supposed to be a big time billionaire business the guy sure acts like a child.
Elon Musk tells jurors insult provoked 'pedo guy' tweet
Elon Musk testified Tuesday that he was being insulting, not literally calling a British cave diver a pedophile when he lashed out on Twitter and ended up in a defamation lawsuit from the man who helped rescue a dozen boys and their soccer coach from a flooded Thailand cave last year.
www.ctvnews.ca
Musk deleted the July 15, 2018, tweets and apologized on Twitter, though subsequent statements he made have called into question what he meant.
In an email to a Buzzfeed reporter seeking comment on the threat of a lawsuit by Unsworth's lawyer, Musk wrote the journalist "should stop defending child rapists," followed by expletives.
Musk maintained his composure throughout an afternoon of questioning from Unsworth's lawyer, who called him as his first witness.
Dressed in a charcoal suit and white shirt, Musk calmly answered the questions and slipped in an occasional droll remark that drew snickers from jurors and the gallery.
When asked about the final line of his email to the Buzzfeed reporter that said he hoped Unsworth would sue him, Musk quipped: "I guess be careful what you wish for."
Throughout the testimony, he didn't back down from his assertion that he didn't mean pedophile in his tweet, saying it was only meant as "creepy old man" where he grew up in South Africa, though he said the phrase was widely used across the English language.
Unsworth's lawyers laughed off that explanation, saying Musk responded to a question on Twitter about whether he had accused Unsworth of being a pedophile with another tweet that said, "Bet ya a signed dollar it's true."
Musk also made a crack about that tweet, joking that it was a "very high stakes situation."
"If I really thought that it was true, I would have said more than a dollar," he testified.
Musk admitted one of his staffers tried to enlist a man to dig up dirt on Unsworth, but the investigator turned out to be a con man who got $52,000 for his efforts and produced nothing damning about Unsworth.
People get called racist, thief, whore and any number of insults on Twitter. Should everyone insulted be able to sue? So because Musk is famous it's against the law for him to insult someone?
Rest
All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
Insults aren't defamation though. Multiple insults about someone are not the same thing as telling lies to harm their reputation.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
Calling someone who is trying to save kids a pedo and a child rapist sounds pretty harmful.
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Schrödinger's cat
Banned
Damn. Yanniv must be gutted about this.
A total revenue stream just got destroyed.
A total revenue stream just got destroyed.
Unknown Soldier
Member
Fortunately, we now have a legal precedent that exchanging insults on Twitter isn't legally jeopardizing.
The fact that we, as a society, even had to have a trial to determine this is absolutely fucking hilarious.
The fact that we, as a society, even had to have a trial to determine this is absolutely fucking hilarious.
Rest
All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
They traded insults. If you're aware of the context it's obvious it's not defamation.
Nester99
Member
Harmful how?
Did he get arrested?
Did his wife leave him?
Did he get fired?
how was he harmed beyond his feelings being hurt for being insulted?
LegendOfKage
Member
It was already set, assuming this legal action was based in the US, which is why I didn't think this would work.
Hustler Magazine v. Falwell - Wikipedia
So unless people actually considered this an accusation, which nobody really did, this too was protected speech.
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Weiji
Banned
For the rest of his life, everywhere he goes, everyone he meets, people are going to call him, “that pedo guy”
Now some of those people are going to know it’s a joke, or the background to it, but not everyone.
There are going to be people who hear it secondhand and believe it, or avoid him on the off chance it’s true. There are going to be companies that won’t want to risk an association, again just based on the joke, even if they know it’s bullshit.
How do you quantify lost opportunities? Humiliations?
If his wife leave him or he loses his job in the future because of this, do you think those will be the stated reasons?
I think he was right to pursue legal action, but I think the amount also tripped him up.
Asking for a few million for the impact on his life is one thing, asking for 190 million makes you sound like a gold digger.
But I don’t like the precedent this sets.
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TrainedRage
Banned
Elon gave us tesla and spacex
Pedo guy rescued a kid from a cave
Elon wins every time
Pedo guy rescued a kid from a cave
Elon wins every time
godhandiscen
There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
It was an insult, not defamation since Musk never presented “evidence” to back up the insult. It doesn’t matter how big of a voice Musk has, the distinction is clear. I am happy with the outcome because of what it represents. It’s insane that some jealous people just wanted Musk to lose without acknowledging the potential implications of what such a ruling would have meant for everybody online.
Also, for the crowd that keeps thinking Musk got away with it because he is rich, and blames all of their personal failures on capitalism:
Also, for the crowd that keeps thinking Musk got away with it because he is rich, and blames all of their personal failures on capitalism:
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Weiji
Banned
It was an insult, not defamation since Musk never presented “evidence” to back up the insult. It doesn’t matter how big of a voice Musk has, the distinction is clear. I am happy with the outcome because of what it represents. It’s insane that some jealous people just wanted Musk to lose without acknowledging the potential implications of what such a ruling would have meant for everybody online.
Also, for the crowd that keeps thinking Musk got away with it because he is rich, and blames all of their personal failures on capitalism:
I get that this is a free speach issue at heart, but the impact of calling someone a prick vs calling them a pedo seems pretty steep to me.
Also this isn’t two nobody internet trolls exchanging verbal arrows. This is a person many believe to be a modern Einstein, and practically worship, calling out a nobody.
If Obama had called trump a pedo prior to the election, would that not be defamation? At what point are we supposed to judge something is clearly a joke vs intentionally harmful and misleading?
This feels substantially worse then normal banter to me.
But I’m conflicted, because I would agree with you that punishing musk for this might lead to more lawsuits over trivial shit. Which harms free speech.
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
I have a feeling if it was anyone else other than Musk the jury would have voted the other way.
The jury would’ve never awarded anybody $190 million over words, especially if you can’t prove your net worth is projected to be that much and/or you have that much to lose.
Grinchy
Banned
It was a weird move by Elon. I find myself just trying to imagine it like a cooler, more popular kid said something bad to little autistic Elon on the bus. Little autistic Elon barely even knows how to converse, let alone trade insults. So his brain burps up this weird insult that maybe he's seen other people say somewhere.
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Yoda
Member
The diver's lawyers were clearly expecting Musk to settle due to having better things to do w/his time. Most likely for a small percentage of the amount requested. Guess Elon wanted to make a point so he didn't feel restricted in his public speech though. Glad the justice system worked in this case.
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