Making accusations of sexual abuse on Facebook

[MrsWinnibago]

A FB friend of mine has put a very long post on a group on there which basically accuses another person of sexual abuse in the past....I will call the accused X. The friend has wirtten details of the alleged abuse and until about an hour ago the friend had included Xs name and contact details in the post.

I am A> very worried that the friend has broken the law and B>concerned that X is now in immediate danger from vigilantes.

The friend was a teen when the alleged abuse happened and it was a long time ago but there are many people on the group who know X (now elderly and weak) and who could, share this information.

I have reported friend's post to the admin of the group and then thought about it and realised that the admin probably support the friend's actions...so I reported the group....what else can I do?

Someone else has let X know about all this incase something happens.

Should have mentioned that friend did remove the contact details when it was pointed out to him but they had been up a long time by then.

Your friend has not committed a criminal offence but X could sue them for libel. It would then be up to your friend to prove that the allegations were true.

If the allegations are true, and can be proved to be so (ie X has been convicted) then there is no libel. It's not a criminal offence to post things like that on Facebook unless, I suppose, if they were inciting people to hurt X.