Photo of husband posted on Facebook group with allegation - legalities?

[Hattie24]

Earlier I was alerted to a post by a woman on our town’s community Facebook page. It is a rant about a flat in her block being used by a group of prostitutes which is causing issues at unsociable hours and how the landlord isn’t doing anything about it. Under this there are photos of various men at the entrance of the block of flats and one of them is my husband. The insinuation is that these have all been visiting that flat.

I want to know the legalities of this woman posting such an allegation as she is outright refusing to remove the post. It is obviously extremely humiliating for me (friends and no doubt colleagues have seen it) and there’s so many comments underneath. We’ve been on a ‘break’ due to various issues but still living together and haven’t been intimate for nearly a year so I don’t need a lecture on how I shouldn’t have married such a man.

Is it me or is someone putting up a post like this without any thought for the consequences on various families etc utterly disgusting?

Without getting in to the rights and wrongs of what the ex has done - i think you can take pictures of anyone in a public place but what you can use them for is a different matter afaik- so the woman publishing these with such allegations (noting no legal conviction) could possibly be a breach of gdpr but I would speak to a legal specialist personally if it were me.

Yeah right.

Your H needs to seek legal advice. There's no point you doing it, or contacting her, as this is nothing to do with you. Its not your photo and it's not your reputation. You can't expect the residents of flats plagued by these men to stop taking action to 'think of their children', as they're no doubt thinking of their own children who have to live with these men coming and going and turning their home into into a brothel.
I get you're humiliated, but genuinely think you're approaching this from the wrong direction. You're not going to be able to constantly cover up the messes your H creates. Silence these women and there could be something else down the line. If I were you, I'd rip the plaster off. Tell people you're no longer together. Stop seeing him as an extension of you. You are not shamed by his behaviour. And please rethink sending her 'something stronger'. Your message could be posted too, then you'll look like you're defending these men.

Is there even a physio based in the block? Shouldn’t be too hard to find out. If he really was there to see a physio he could get the booking details from the rugby club, and provide this to the Facebook poster, who could then remove the post provide an apology.
However, as you suspect, this excuse is BS.
I do feel for the women who posted the pictures, can’t be nice having sleezy men hanging around.

Then the club can confirm it for him.

Not true. If this were the case, how on earth do you imagine TV companies get away with broadcasting film of people at sports events, in processions, on beaches etc?

Please point us to the source of this illegality

As embarrassing as it is I think you need to let your husband deal with it. It’s his issue he caused it. He took a risk and it’s backfired. You were on a break and now this. You say you don’t believe him. Watch his actions op would be my one piece of advice. If he has just found out about this why has he not come running to you to talk rather than stay at the pub/friends. He will definitely have evidence of the physio you could search for physios in that area. Let him fight his own battle.

I hope this will be the wake-up call you need to end things with your partner. Start to love and prioritise yourself and your own well-being.

You are focusing on the wrong thing. Next time someone notices the photo of your partner, you would say 'Yes, I'm aware of it and I'm disgusted by it. Although we were on a break at the time, I have decided to break up indefinitely with him, and I feel much better for it.'

No healthy relationship needs a break. No man visits prostitutes just the once. You don't need his attention, affection, or money, to thrive. This one is on him to deal with, and is a brilliant opportunity for you to find self-worth and happiness.

While you're right that the previous poster is mistaken, any sporting event, festival, gig etc of note where filming is taking place has it in their Ts&Cs that by attending you consent to them filming you and using your image for whatever they want until the end of time 😅

Yeah this. ^ How ridiculous that you're so annoyed and offended that this woman has posted a photograph of all these sleazy men on Facebook - (that includes your husband,) but aren't angry with him for using women for sex and paying them! (Even if he denies it, he has been doing it or he wouldn't be there.) You probably always blame the 'other woman' in an affair too. 🙄

I think I would stay on your 'break' with him if I were you @Hattie24

.

You could try asking the moderators of the fb page to remove it?
but the less fuss you make about it the sooner people will forget about it,

You can certainly take legal advice but if what she’s saying about him is true, she can post about it including his photo. He’ll need to prove it’s not true to get any recourse

I’d be more annoyed with him in that he was involved in using and exploiting vulnerable women than the women who posted about it.

Leave your husband to deal with this problem. Why are you trying to sort his s* out?

People are talking about humiliation, not punishment.

Your premise is incorrect. It's not illegal (for example) to visit a tarot reader, but I might not want my face plastered all over FB implying that I do.

I don't BTW.

I agree with most of the last few posters. The selfishness is staggering. Instead of maybe reaching out to the woman in solidarity and asking her to check if there’s a physio in the building or any other info so she can expose her partners lie, or having some sort of empathy for her. Their immediate go to is to want to silence the woman and think only about her and her kids being embarrassed.

No consideration of how it’s impacting the fb posters sense of safety as a woman or her kids life - or the welfare of all other residents in that building .

It’s a classic staple of misogyny - demanding woman and other vulnerable people stay quiet while under threat. And blaming the woman who speaks out.

This is his problem not yours OP. If he shames himself that’s on him.

I would message the admin of the group they usually take this stuff down.
Like you said it’s not about him but his family and possibly children.

Presumably you’re not going to get back together with a man who uses prostitutes as that’s just ick.

OP, I say this gently as I’d imagine you are experiencing a very upsetting time - I think you’re experiencing misplaced anger. You are rightfully exceptionally angry and embarrassed about your husbands actions. From your posts it seems there were ongoing issues between you and you don’t wholeheartedly believe he wasn’t using sex workers.
Just now it’s easier for you to express anger towards the woman who broke the dignity you had managed to preserve for yourself. I’m really sorry you have experienced all of this but I think you’ll be able to move on quicker if you deal with the issues between you and your husband rather than threaten somebody with legal action you possibly might not be able to follow through.
At the end of the day- she’ll go back to her life and you’ll go back to yours, still having to deal with the hurt caused by your husbands actions.

So if he didn’t have kids and a wife it would be okay to post this?

It’s either wrong to post it or it’s not.
You can’t escape consequences of seedy behaviour because you have a family.

The effect on the women and children in the block of flats is still the same whether he has kids or not.

Why should the residents not do what they can to make their environment safer ? Why is the embarrassment of OPs kids more important than the safety of women, children and vulnerable adults?

How are people still getting this so wrong, it's been corrected multiple times throughout the thread?

For one last time...if he sues her for libel, he does not have to prove a thing.

The burden of proof is entirely on her to prove that her statement is true.

Haven’t read the whole thread just the first page which is full of incorrect advice so thought I’d jump straight in.

You can’t do anything but your husband can.

This post is defamatory and therefore Facebook will remove it if he asks them to do so (as otherwise they would be liable for it under s1 of the defamation act and they don’t want the hassle)

if he wants to also take action against the person who posted it, he’s got two causes of action:

Defamation - if she says it’s true the onus is on her to prove that; and
Misuse of private information - info about someone’s sex life is private even if it’s pretty insalubrious

It’s irrelevant the photo was taken in a public place, what’s actionable is what she has said or inferred about him. The downside is however that taking action can be expensive and she may not have any money to pay his costs and any damages to him even if he wins so he should think hard about that before he starts anything.

It’s gross he uses prostitutes but your kids may see that - it could traumatise them and they’re innocent. YANBU.

So your dh and/or his rugby club can provide a receipt showing he visited a HCPC registered physio at that flat? Thought not ….

He clearly doesn’t respect you OP or he would be at home trying to put this right (although not sure how he could!).