Irish billionaire to sue Facebook over fake profile pages

Claims social networking site has refused to take down bogus sites

DARA KELLY,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Sunday, May 29, 2011, 8:07 AM

Updated Sunday, May 29, 2011, 8:19 AM

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JP McManus

Renowned Irish multi-millionaire JP McManus is suing Facebook for allegedly failing to remove three fake profile pages claiming to be him.

Coincidentally, he is suing the same week that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is in Ireland on a business trip.

At a preliminary hearing on Friday, Paul Gallagher SC, for McManus, said that his client's representatives had asked the social networking giant to to take down the profiles, but the pages, which stated they were "JP McManus" and contained photos of him, remained on the site.

The Irish Independent reported that they contacted Facebook, which immediately took down one of the profiles, promising that the other profiles would also be removed.

"Our terms of service are unique in that you have to be who you say you are -- we're among the best on the web for that," said a spokesperson for the networking website. The spokesperson could not account for why the profiles were not removed.

Lawyers for the 60-year-old multi-millionaire from Limerick, were granted permission by the High Court to bring proceedings against Facebook Ireland for alleged breaches of privacy and data protection.

McManus, who is known for his privacy, is also seeking declarations that Facebook's alleged failure to remove the accounts is an unlawful breach of his constitutional rights. He is also seeking damages for defamation, malicious falsehood, fraudulent misrepresentation and negligence.

Nster.com

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eiriamach | Jun 01, 2011, 09:21 AM EDT

That's a bad analogy, badolan. Farmers don't market alcohol to alcoholics. Facebook gives its users the means to do harm all too easily to other people. It gives people powerful weapons to use against anyone they don't like. It's more like putting a gun in the hands of a crazy person, and sometimes a whole group of crazies. Yes, he should sue the people who falsely published the info, but FB won't tell him "who did it," and FB cannot even be contacted about viruses spreading through its apps and pages!

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badolan | May 31, 2011, 11:07 PM EDT

This is akin to suing farmers for your alcoholism. They grew the grain to make the booze so it's their fault. Right? Perhaps, he should sue the people that falsely published the information and not Facebook. Just a thought .....

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Liamkeyes | May 30, 2011, 07:15 PM EDT

She was known as "The Famine Queen". Strange that she did'nt visit Ireland during the Famine. This is tne most ridiculous item that I have ever read in Irish Central. Do you not have a proof reader? Who gives the OK to print such rubbish?

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eiriamach | May 29, 2011, 02:06 PM EDT

Good for him to go after the abusers! Facebook is a hangout for cyber bullies, and "Irish" users are no exception. One Facebook user, claiming to have help from his Facebook "friends," has harassed me with sadistic emails; some email contains links to a fake FB profile and a virus "attack page." You should check out everyone who contacts you through Facebook and never click FB links in emails. Fortunately, the states are beginning to write laws to protect Internet users.

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Trealach | May 29, 2011, 01:32 PM EDT

@pilib04 - JP made his money long before the property bubble. His main business interests are in the Horse industry. He's proven himself to be a very shrude yet honest businessman - which is more than can be said about this site. I wonder how much truth is in this article, since the headline brands him as a BILLIONAIRE - yet the first sentence of the article refers to him as a multi-millionaire. Maybe Dara Kelly isn't too good at maths.

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Ms.Gail | May 29, 2011, 12:10 PM EDT

Guess everybody has problems. Facebook needs a better method of accepting and responding to such situations.

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pilib04 | May 29, 2011, 11:52 AM EDT

Billionaire with problems? Gottta love it. How much of his money was swindled from the Irish people in the past year or two???

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Kilsally | May 29, 2011, 10:55 AM EDT

can`t see him succeeding as it would be the people who created the profiles to blame. the only chance is that facebook failing to respond to take down requests within a reasonable time frame - but then again facebook may be required to contact the owners of the fake profiles and verify true identity of of all concerned before taking action???

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aughadown | May 29, 2011, 09:13 AM EDT

Social Media is a very new form of communication and I believe we need to get a lot more education and training out there on the product. I also beleive the more structured written media formats have a responsibility to informe the public on the pros and cons of social media. The guy that has the money to spend on taking a legal action is always the winner no matter what the outcome

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