Are Instagram rants the new Twitter rants? The smartphone app has allowed pop stars to promote themselves outside of the traditional PR system, and also vent their issues with #nofilter. Now rapper The Game (real name Jayceon Terrell Taylor) has been hit with a lawsuit for libel on Instagram, which might be a first.
Earlier this month, Karen Monroe filed a complaint in L.A.Superior Court against her former employer. She was let go as his children’s nanny after being accused of mistreating them. He commented on this dismissal, and posted a photo of her on his Instagram account, with the text, “Beware if this person is watching your children, she is a very dangerous baby sitter." He also claimed he’d “heard rumors” that she inappropriately touched children before working for him. Monroe says his harassment has made her unemployable.
Since this is such new territory, it opens up the question of whether you can actually defame a person on Instagram, and how it will hold up in court. The app’s terms of use, which changed earlier this year, state: “You must not defame, stalk, bully, abuse, harass, threaten, impersonate or intimidate people or entities and you must not post private or confidential information via the Service.”
If Monroe wants to proceed with her claim, she will have to “prove that The Game's published statements were false; unprivileged; have a natural tendency to injure or cause ‘special damage;’ and that The Game's fault in publishing the statement amounts to at least negligence.” And she will have to prove it in a California court.
The Game's had an especially contentious month. He also slammed the restaurant chain Houston’s for denying him lunch because his tattoos did not conform to their dress code.
Photo via The Documentary/Instagram