To wonder why the same rules don’t apply to Tattle?

[Shitegeist]

Whenever any crime or scandal is discussed on mumsnet threads are shut down for libel reasons or contempt of court. But that’s all that is discussed on Tattle. Does anyone know why they aren’t subject to the same rules?

Agreed about the Letby thread on there.

Tattle speaks a lot of truth. A thread from here took me to that site 3 years ago. It was then that I learnt about Philip Scofield and his rush to come out as gay etc.

Surely it’s because the server is hosted in the US which has the first amendment for free speech.

It’s all well and good if it turns out to be true but what about when it’s not true?

@SaturdayGiraffe - The first amendment doesn’t protect against libel or defamation.

No I don’t use tattle really. Just curious whether there was some sort of loop hole. The thread has been derailed quite a bit. Lots of disparaging comments like this one which does back up the suggestion that mumsnet is pretty bitchy.

The First Amendment refers to the rights of citizens to criticise their government. It has been extended, yes, but it does not mean anyone can say anything they like without repercussion.

It depends on how the information is phrased. If it's an opinion, as a general rule, there are no legal issues.

I am not a lawyer but this is my understanding of the law so if someone more knowledgeable wants to correct my post, they're welcome to do so!

I'd assume that Tattle isn't hosted in the UK so they don't have to abide by UK law. Websites hosted in other countries can get away with a lot more e.g. piracy of Western movies and games isn't a big deal in places like China and Russia so a lot of piracy websites are hosted there.

MN to an extent protects its users and has this as an understanding with users. (Not so much policy or rule but a general concept)

If threads go libelous they will remove them to protect itself but also to protect users.

You are potentially at risk of someone going legal on you if you post libelous and harassing stuff - MN try and keep things to 'in the public interest to discuss' rather than go that far.

This limits the risk of lawyers coming and asking for information to track down individual posters (and thus protects anonymity).

The assumption from MN tends to air on the side of assuming posters may not realise they are going to far so acts almost like a guardian to protect them.

Whereas on tattlelife (and twitter /Facebook to an extent) the risk is more personal to users. This isn't a hard and fast rule as you are still responsible for posts on MN and they could come back and haunt you but it's less of a risk being of MNs code of conduct.

The precedent on this was really the Samaritans Purse incident where they went legal trying to get users details to go after them personally. That was nasty and very very scary for some of those involved. It's a subject that can't be freely discussed on MN even now because of the litigatious nature of the organisation.

Ultimately MN pride themselves on trying to stop this being a situation which may be repeated where users believe they are anonymous but are then pursued legally and MN have to effectively 'give them up' and a user might find they are less anonymous than they thought.

Not everyone likes the moderation on MN but I do get where it comes from and having seen the above incident, I think it's much needed.

You still need to be mindful of what you say here but I think it's better than the alternative for many who don't really understand the law and the limits of what you can say in writing.

Tattle certainly has lots of over-invested weirdos frothing and obsessing about random celebs/influencers etc. but it also has some pretty thoughtful threads too.

Also MNs revenue is from advertising. If they go down the route of being trashy / scandalous they run the risk of losing that income.

That's why MN having a reputation as 'reputable' utterly matters - they can get higher advertising revenue.

I was less thinking legally and more morally. It’s all well and good saying Tattle digs out the truth but with any vigilante type behaviour there will always be collateral damage.

Oh yes I forgot about the Samaritans Purse stuff.

At least on here you can call out other posters if you disagree with their comments, that doesn't appear to be the case on Tattle, especially if you disagree with threads where conspiracy theorists have got a hold.

I used to be on the Harry/Meghan thread where there are a whole load of posters convinced that H/M's children don't exist, photos of them are photoshopped, photos use other children, Meghan's pregnancy bumps were prosthetics etc. I commented that there was a birth certificate confirming the birth and if no birth had taken place it would require collusion between hospital, registrar etc and it was pretty stupid to believe that such a cover up would exist. Stupid was the only word I used, immediately got a warning about respecting other people's opinions, then a couple of minutes later without posting further got banned.

So it gives the appearance of posters being supportive of each other because if you disagree with anyone on there, even when facts don't align with opinions, you get banned.

True. I side eye plenty of threads on here, MN is not without it’s nastiness, but there are lots of good threads on here too, good advice etc. I didn’t see the same on Tattle.
I just saw lots of threads clustered together about influencers/celebs and horrible comments about how they look, personal attacks on their kids. They are more vicious.

Partly why Tattle users are always starting threads on here is because they know Tattle is always teetering on collapse. Between civil cases, government petitions and discussions in parliament - not to mention tipping into RL harassment and stalking, Tattle will eventually fall apart.
Tbh at least if Tattle exists all the women-hating stalkers are together over there. Although they have started regularly harrassing some of the subjects of their threads on Twitter too. Surprising no-one, the posters leading the RL bullying and claiming they're women on Tattle are men on Twitter and in RL.

I'm genuinely surprised that people on this post describe Tattle as nasty. On the threads I frequent (Secret Celeb Gossip) the fellow posters are in the majority a really good bunch.

I have seen (and been on the receiving end of) appalling behaviour on MN. Never had a so much as a cross word with any Tattlers.

Yeah but they aren’t calling you a lying hag with tiny boobs or saying you dress as a “prozzy” or giving your children nasty nicknames. They save that for the people the thread is about who can’t answer back to them. I refuse to believe people can’t see it’s nasty, they just think the people being targeted deserve it.

I think the biggest difference between Tattle and MN is that posters on MN will admit it’s not all sunshine and roses and will call people out. Tattlers do not seem to have any issue with the trolling whatsoever, or if they do they get deleted.

I did actually get personal attacks like that off people on here!! Hence, I don't post much.

@IchWill - People on here attacked your personal appearance and your children? That does surprise me given they’ve probably never seen you or your children. I hope you reported them and it was deleted because I can’t see how that would be allowed to stand.

No. Personal attacks on me. When I posted a picture of an ordinary item of clothing I was wearing which I was asked to share.

@IchWill - that is shitty and I hope it got deleted. I still think what posters on the Tattle celeb snark threads do is indefensible however.

Not deleted. I asked Admin to delete and was told they don't delete posts just because a poster doesn't like the way a post has gone.

Well most women wouldn't like to be told they are mutton (aged 39!) and look like a slapper and looking like a hooker. (Skinny jeans and high heels, what an absolute slag I am!) But Admin moved post to some section where the posts drop off after a month when I pushed them.

Are tattle threads ever positive? Do they create any posts to say nice stuff about anyone? That’s a genuine question. Because the few days I went on, I sensed a desperation for people to be unpleasant about the subjects.