Businessman awarded £22,000 in landmark libel ruling over malicious fake Facebook profile

A company boss was awarded £22,000 in damages today over fake entries posted on Facebook. It is thought to be the first successful defamation and privacy law case involving the social networking site in the UK.

A false profile of Matthew Firscht, 38, was created in June last year by Grant Raphael, a cameraman, which wrongly said he was signed up to gay groups and had lied to avoid paying loans.

Mr Firscht's lawyers contacted Facebook and found through the profile's internet address the entries had been made from Mr Raphael's computer at his home in Hampstead, North London.

Awarding Mr Firscht and his company £22,000 in damages, a High Court judge yesterday ruled that the defence had been 'built on lies'.

Judge Richard Parkes QC said that Mr Raphael was liable for the internet entries and had lied about the posts.

The pair had been friends, who went to school in Brighton together, before working in Mr Firscht's joint TV production company Power House.

They fell out in 2000 when Mr Firscht took his friend's advice to resign from the company only to find out Mr Raphael had moved into his offices shortly after his departure.

Mr Firscht believed that his former cameraman had profited from his resignation and they stopped talking to each other.

He later when on to found Applause Store, which finds audience members for radio and television shows.

Of the false Facebook entry, Mr Firscht, said: 'What Mr Raphael did was extremely offensive, embarrassing and may have caused serious damage to the reputation of myself and Applause Store, which I have spent years building into what it is today.

'The case never needed to go this far. Had Mr Raphael owned up at the beginning and apologised, the matter could have been dealt with without the need for a lengthy and distressing legal process. 

'Instead, Mr Raphael stuck his head in the sand and will now have to pay the consequences for having lied to both myself and the court. 

'I hope that this judgment will at least send a warning out to users of Facebook and other social networking websites that they cannot recklessly post defamatory and private material with immunity. 

'Having been vindicated by the court, I now look forward to getting on with my life and putting this episode behind me.'

Mr Firscht learnt of the fake profile in July last year when his brother Simon spotted it 16 days after it had been first posted.

The profile said he was signed up to groups on the site including 'Gay in the Wood.....Borehamwood' and 'Gay Jews in London'.

Another group, 'Has Matthew Firscht lied to you?', claimed he owed large sums of money but regularly made 'pathetic excuses' to avoid payment.

Facebook staff were alerted and deleted the offending profile and groups.

Mr Raphael claimed that the entries had been made by strangers who turned up to an impromptu party at his flat on June 19 and 20.

Judge Parkes said: 'This is an unfortunate dispute between two former friends.

'It seems to be the overwhelming fact that the defendant has lied from the whole beginning about his alibi of production of the Facebook profiles and groups.

'His behaviour does take this case out of the norm. I do take the conduct of the defendant as particularly culpable.'

The ruling is expected to affect the online community who have been more immune to privacy and libel laws in this country compared to newspapers.

Mr Firscht's lawyer, Ashley Hurst, said: 'This decision is likely to send shock waves amongst the social networking community.

'There are many similar instances of libel and breach of privacy which go unchecked every day.

'People need to realise that libel and privacy laws in the UK apply just as much to online media as they do to newspapers. 

'The case also goes to show that with a combination of sophisticated tracing techniques, use of the court process and careful assembly of evidence, anonymous users of the internet can be brought to justice.'

Facebook became a worldwide phenomenon in 2006 and is the seventh most popular site on the internet. In May, it attracted 129.3 million visitors.

MPs raised concerns that the site could fuel bullying by allowing insults to be traded anonymously.

Some members said they received hate mail and death threats. Others reported being sent insults and comments about their weight, looks and sex lives.