by Emil Weber
The top European human rights court ruled on Tuesday that an altered picture of an Icelandic author accompanied by the caption “Fuck you rapist bastard” - published in Instagram by a citizen - amounted to an unsupported factual statement violating the writer’s right to a private life.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg (photo: Nicoleon, Cour européenne des droits de l'homme, CC BY-SA 4.0)
The European Human Rights Court (ECthR) awarded the injured author 17,500 euros in damages and the costs of the court proceedings.
From a media ethics perspective, the case is relevant also because it…