VIC Is this indirect identification?

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Peterliu2021

Member
29 September 2021
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Hi, I own an Asian restaurant in Melbourne’s north west, recently i had an argument with a guy on a Facebook group regarding the vaccination topic and we strongly disagree with each other’s view! Few hours later that guy posted something nasty about me , he put up a false statement staying that I operate a business without license and try to poison my customers

[Quote:” I am completely shock to find out that a guy in the group who owns an Asian restaurant in Melbourne’s north west who operates without a license and his place is dirty as hell, he clearly has the intention to poison his customers!” end quote]

I am really upset that he publicly shaming me simply because we disagree with each other’s view , I am thinking to sue him for defamation, after some research on the internet, I found out that a court must be satisfied that on the balance of probabilities that the defendant:

1. communicated or published
2. to any third party
3. a defamatory matter
4. about, concerning or identifying a person

I also noticed that an untrue statements or imputations that do not identify a particular individual will not create a cause of action for defamation.

My question here is: is his statement contained enough information to identify me in a public group more that 10K members ? Can I consider “a guy who owns a Asian restaurant on Melbourne’s north west!” as indirect identification through the provision of other information that would cause a reasonable person to associate the material with the plaintiff.



Many thanks
 

Rod

Lawyer
LawConnect (LawTap) Verified
27 May 2014
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Only if there is a link between your facebook profile and your business.

How would a member of the group associate the defamatory post with your business?

Also ask the group admins to remove the offending post.