A Finnish teacher has won a defamation action against his 15-year-old student, who posted an injurious video on YouTube.
The video was filmed at a school party and depicted the teacher singing (poorly, one presumes). On YouTube, the video description read ‘Karaoke of the mental hospital’. Whether this in itself would be defamatory in a common law jurisdiction is an open question, as the caption seems to refer to the school setting, rather than the performer.
Interestingly, the teacher chose not to proceed against YouTube itself, claiming only €2 000 in damages. However, the Court exercised its discretion to reduce damages to €800 in view of the defendant’s age and the swiftness with which the video was taken down.
