A 21-year-old woman from Durban, South Africa, is considering suing 100 Facebook users over their derogatory comments on a photograph of her, which appeared on a Facebook page titled “SA’s finest girls”.
The Facebook group currently has 3,365 likes, having been on the social media site since last month.
The photograph of Claudia Naidoo features her with a lollipop in her mouth and wearing a revealing sleeveless shirt.
Times Live reported yesterday Naidoo’s picture had received the most attention with 400 comments and approximately 200 “likes”, but offending comments made on the photo ranged from her being called a “slut”, being told she was asking to be raped and that she was a disgrace to South African Indian women.
It now appears the photograph has been removed from the page.
“I’m considering legal action because no one should be cyber-bullied, defamed or slandered on social media,” Naidoo told Times Live. “Negative comments that are valid are acceptable, but victimisation and hate speech are not. The defamatory comments came mostly from Indian women, who went as far as insulting my parents and my boyfriend.”
Naidoo added: “They went on to say I should be raped and actually encouraged it. Many women dress provocatively. This does not mean they are asking to be raped. Every day children, babies and elderly women are raped. Did their clothes ask for it?”
According to Emma Sadlier, a social media law consultant, Naidoo was entitled to sue the Facebook users for their offensive comments on the basis of defamation. She could also lay a charge of crimen injuria with the police and approach the Human Rights Commission if she felt the comments were racially inclined.
“People think they are anonymous and that is a fallacy that we must dispel,” Times Live quoted Sadlier as saying.
She added people tend to believe there is safety in numbers, which is a misconception. “This is not true. In Britain, Lord McAlpine is suing 10,000 Twitter users for linking him to sexual abuse,” said Sadlier.
Furthermore, Sadlier said Naidoo has the right to sue the creator of the page. “As the creator, with the ability to monitor, remove and delete comments, he becomes the common-law publisher.”
It is unclear as to why Naidoo’s photograph received the most negative commentary, as Facebook user Jabs Nata Sweswi Ntshani said: “I just don’t understand [why]… people [are] insulting this girl, there are… worse pics than hers in this group.”
