A Nova Scotia judge is ordering the social media giant Facebook to turn over information to a Richmond County councillor and the county’s chief administrative officer who say they were defamed by posts made in a Facebook group.
Councillor Steve Sampson and CAO Warren Olsen allege they were were defamed by comments made on the Facebook group “Taxpayers of Richmond County, NS” by people using the pseudonyms “Jake Sampson” and “Jim Davis.”
They want Facebook to give up account information for each of the accounts in question so that both men can pursue legal action.
The postings, alleging fraudulent behaviour by council members, were made on 15 days in January, February and March of this year.
Steve Sampson has been a councillor for 25 years. He recently led a group of councillors in Richmond County who successfully argued to the Nova Scotia Utilities and Review Board to reduce the size of council from 10 seats to five.
That move was opposed within the county and made Sampson the subject of what he calls a “blackmail attempt.”
In April of this year, Sampson went public with the blackmail attempt and turned the matter over to the RCMP.
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An anonymous letter delivered to Sampson’s Cape Breton home demanded he resign as councillor. If he didn’t, the sender threatened to publicize a phone call to a male escort agency made from his hotel room in the U.S. while Sampson was on county business.
In a recently released decision, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Michael Wood issued an interim order to Facebook directing the company to preserve the information in question, pending a second hearing.
Justice Wood directed Facebook to notify the account holders about the second hearing which was held earlier this month.
Nobody representing the account holders appeared on their behalf, so the judge issued what is called a “Norwich order” — a directive from the court ordering the disclosure of information necessary to identify the anonymous authors of allegedly defamatory postings.
The judge said he weighed the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protection of free speech provisions but ultimately ruled the authors of the postings cannot hide behind pseudonyms.
“I am satisfied that the nature and number of postings by the Sampson and Davis Facebook accounts override any reasonable expectation that those persons should be entitled to remain anonymous,” Justice Wood writes.
Contacted by phone in Richmond County, Steve Sampson said the victory is at least partial vindication in a fight he calls tedious and stressful.
“There is still an ongoing process before we get the actual information but for now it’s a very large victory,” he said.
Sampson said he will meet with his lawyer soon to discuss the next steps in the process, but adds he’s looking forward to putting the entire matter behind him.
He said the decision goes a long way towards repairing his reputation.
“There are consequences for decisions made and for statements made and we have to respect that,” he said.
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