Question

In your answers please remember to identify the Tort(s) violated, and the necessary elements constituting the Tort.

People clearly have a reasonable expectation of privacy when they enter their personal banking or credit-card information online. They also have a reasonable expectation that online companies will follow their own privacy policies. But it is probably not reasonable to expect privacy in statements made on Twitter—or photos posted on Twitter, Flickr, or Instagram, for that matter.

Sometimes, to be sure, people mistakenly believe that they are making statements or posting photos in a private forum.

Randi Zuckerberg, the older sister of Mark Zuckerberg (the founder of Facebook), used a mobile app called “Poke” to post a “private” photo on Facebook of their family gathering during the holidays. Poke allows the sender to decide how long the photo can be seen by others. Facebook allows users to configure their privacy settings to limit access to photos, which Randi thought she had done. Nonetheless, the photo showed up in the Facebook feed of Callie Schweitzer, who then put it on Twitter, where it eventually “went viral.” Schweitzer apologized and removed the photo, but it had already gone public for the world to see.

Does Randi have grounds for a violation of privacy suit against Callie? Why or why not?

In your answers please remember to identify the Tort(s) violated, and the necessary elements constituting the Tort.

Answer 1

Randi does not have grounds for a violation of privacy suit against Callie since she did not use the privacy settings available wisely. She must have been careful towards posting online on social media. Once a photo or video is posted online,without any restrictions or limited rights to viewers, it is no longer private. Therefore, Callie has not committed any tort in this case w.r.t. social media platform where sharing posts is possible and permitted.