Food blogger wins £24,000 over libel action over tweets

A food blogger won £24,000 after she sued a columnist for libel over two tweets.

Jack Monroe sued columnist Katie Hopkins over two war memorial tweets which she said had damaged her reputation.

Hopkins in a tweet in May 2015 had asked Monroe if she had “scrawled on any memorials recently”,  a statement which Monroe said was tantamount to accusing her of vandalizing a war memorial.

A judge who heard that case said that tweets had caused Monroe distress and she was entitled to compensation, an initial £107,000 within 28 days.

He ruled that the tweet "meant that Ms Monroe condoned and approved of scrawling on war memorials, vandalising monuments commemorating those who fought for her freedom".

The judge added: "These are meanings with a defamatory tendency, which were published to thousands."

Several cases of libel lawsuits over tweets and Facebook posts have been reported in the United States and other countries. In January this year a woman sued the US President Donald Trump for $4 million after he called her “really dumb”, a case she eventually lost.

This prompts us to conclude that one should always think before they tweet.