Lawyer wants Facebook to take down postings

A Ugandan lawyer wants the High Court to order Facebook Ireland to take down alleged defamatory postings about him from its service.

Fred Muwema claims he is being defamed by a blogger called “TVO” who accuses him of accepting a 900m Uganda shillings (€237,000) bribe and Facebook has a duty to ensure it is removed as publisher of the material.

Mr Muwema strongly denies the bribe claim and another he was involved in a break-in at his own office.

Facebook denies it has a duty to remove the material, particularly as much of it is available across the internet by Googling “Muwema” and “bribe”.

Mr Justice Donald Binchy reserved judgment. Andrew Walker, for Mr Muwema, said the injunction would not affect Facebook’s freedom of expression.

Facebook had offered to provide the IP internet protocol address of the blogger but only after legal proceedings were taken. Mr Muwema had no choice but to bring the case because of Facebook’s attitude, counsel said.

Rossa Fanning, for Facebook, said there was something fanciful about the restraints sought by Mr Muewma in the context where 1.6bn people post on Facebook every day.