May 30, 2015, Gevorg Hakobyan, Senior lawyer of "Concern-Dialog" law firm, presented his report on How to Put a Muzzle on the Internet against Fake Accounts of Social Networks for Dissemination of Slander and Abuse during the BarCamp Yerevan Annual International Conference.

“If you found out that you have been slandered or abused, then do not sit at home and wait, do not think for too long, as you can appeal to court within a one-month period and not later due to the statue of limitations”_ explained Gevorg Hakobyan, during the BarCamp Yerevan Annual International Conference today in Yerevan.

This observation refers to those cases where the identity of the slanderer or abuser is known. However, often there might be cases when the offence is coming from false (fake) accounts, which are almost impossible to identify. What should be done in this case?

“If you have been slandered by a fake account, you can still appeal to court and claim that the disseminated information is false, and the court may approve the claim. This is your defense mechanism. You may take a picture of the court decision after its approval and post it on the social networks mentioning that the information on that fake account is false” _ recommends lawyer G. Hakobyan.

According to Mr. Hakobyan, one of the ways to fight against fake accounts is to try getting the address of that particular user on social network. However, this might be a hard job, as Facebook, Inc. provides no addresses without permission of the court. “It might take long for a social network group to provide information in case the court of Armenia makes such decision and sends it to Facebook, Inc.” According to him, this is due to the fact that Facebook is an American network.

Therefore, Gevorg reminds of being careful while posting in order to avoid any court cases, since there is a liability for disseminating slander or false information. “The law of equal liability implies that one is liable also for citing others’ sources.”

Photo @ Youth Online Newspaper

Original post "How to Fight Against Fake Accounts on the Internet" @ Aravot.am

Video "How to Fight Against Fake Accounts on the Internet" @ Gevorg Hakobyan Facebook account