Criminal Justice as the Only Way: Defamation Judgments Related to #MeToo in Sweden.

Description

This paper presents a study of court cases involving women who, in connection with
#MeToo, identified alleged perpetrators in social media and were later prosecuted for and convicted
of criminal defamation in Sweden. While this kind of behaviour – also called ‘naming and shaming’ –
is contested, we conceptualise the use of social media to share experiences of sexual violence as an
informal path to justice that makes it possible for individuals to have a voice and gain recognition of
their experience. First, we show that this conceptualisation is supported by how the women’s
reasons for sharing their information are described in the judgments, such as telling their story and
sharing it with others, getting support, warning others, and expressing disappointment in the justice
system. Second, according to Swedish defamation law, a truth defence is allowed only if the
defamatory statement is first considered to be justifiable. The justifiability assessment is a balance
act between the defendant’s interest of freedom of speech against the complainant’s interest of
honour and reputation. All cases studied ended in guilty verdicts due to the lack of any justificatory
grounds. The study thus shows that an informal justice mechanism such as speaking out on social
media is not recognised as a legally valid defence against defamation claims. In effect, through the
defamation cases that followed #MeToo the criminal justice system emerges as the only way to
justice for victims of sexual violence, namely to report to the police; it will act repressively towards
an individual/women/ who speaks out about sexual violence outside the criminal justice system in a
way that identifies a perpetrator. While victims of sexual violence express a variety of justice needs,
and freedom of speech might be essential for executing some of them, defamation law puts an end
to some of them.

Period	2023 Oct 27
Event title	Law and Gender 2023
Event type	Conference
Location	Gothenburg, SwedenShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International