accused of threats/intimidation because of a social media post

J

Jacob P.

New Member
Jurisdiction
Pennsylvania
I'm being accused by someone I used to talk to of threats/intimidation but the social media post that they are claiming is a threat has nothing to do with them whatsoever. It wasn't even a violent post and doesn't mention them directly or indirectly.

I have witnessed this person suffering from severe paranoia and they have a reputation for falsely accusing people of targeting them on social media. Would an accusation like this hold up in court just because a person assumes that a post was made to threaten them?
 
Jacob P. said:
Would an accusation like this hold up in court just because a person assumes that a post was made to threaten them?
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Accusations alone, mean nothing.

Accusations require evidence and proof beyond a reasonable doubt to convince a jury to convict.
 
Jacob P. said:
Would an accusation like this hold up in court just because a person assumes that a post was made to threaten them?
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I'd have have to see the post and what this person said to have any idea of whether the person might have a shot at winning a lawsuit, but just from what you stated here, it'd be a real long shot. If you made false statements of fact about that person, he/she may have a good defamation claim. But as you say the post doesn't name or reference this other person in any way, that seems very unlikely to succeed. If you made threats of imminient violence against the person, that's a potential crime but, again, as you say you never mentioned the person and it had no violent content, the police would probably just shrug their shoulders and send him/her on their way. If the person has mental problems severe enough to exhibit obvious paranoia or other imagined fears, his/her claims aren't going to be believed without some real evidence to back it up. These are the types of folks who are best left alone. Don't engage them in conversation, don't respond to their posts, e-mails, or other messages, and if you him/her on the street, make sure you take a path that stays well clear of the person. You might, however, want to save copies of his rants against you in separate folder on your computer. That may come in handy if the person's actions become more serious. Showing law enforcement the pattern of behavior can raise the level of urgency the police put on finding this person and either locking them up or having them committed for mental help.
 
Jacob P. said:
Would an accusation like this hold up in court just because a person assumes that a post was made to threaten them?
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I'm not sure what your concern is, but do you really suppose anyone here can intelligently assess potential legal issues arising out of a social media post whose contents and context are completely unknown?
 
zddoodah said:
do you really suppose anyone here can intelligently assess potential legal issues arising out of a social media post whose contents and context are completely unknown?
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Carnac the Magnificent could do THAT, because His Most Magnificent Majestic Magic Man did all of this and MOST of that:

 
zddoodah said:
a social media post whose contents and context are completely unknown?
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Now we know the content, but we don't know the context. Nevertheless, a social media post that says, "I want to get my gun license for myself for Valentine's Day," would almost never be legally actionable.


adjusterjack said:
If that's all it takes to get a crazy person on your case on social media, it's time to get off social media and stay away from it for keeps.
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I don't really agree with that, but it's certainly time to block the said crazy person.
 
Okay. So since then, I haven't contacted her but she made a page on Twitter with all of the accusations against me. She is now making fake pages to follow, like and retweet the posts. All of the followers on this page except for 2-3 are her burner accounts. I have proof of that. (I'm documenting everything) Everyday she makes a new account and the follower count goes up by one. And her style of posting is the same on each page. The account she made to accuse me on is ----------- on X (previously Twitter)

Everybody in our "space" on Twitter thinks shes just trying to scare me but I think she may be serious. I can easily disprove a ton of what the person------------ is saying about me (as well as the accuser) I have a lot of texts and voice notes between us to prove that---------------, the only other accuser, is fabricating her story because of some personal things that happened between us.

The person that made this page claims that they aren't the accuser, but just a friend of the accuser but I have alot of reason to believe that it is her.
 
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She has tried to follow me from around 5 of these pages from the burner accounts. And even though my page is locked, I know she is still following me but I don't know what page it is.
 
Okay. Let's cut to the chase. I completely get that it's annoying. I've had an internet stalker as well. But what DAMAGES has she cost? Have you lost a job? Been demoted? Had your marriage break up? The law can't compensate you without damages.

Don't just avoid her. BLOCK her. She's not going to sue you and if she does she'll lose. Talk to an attorney if it will make you feel better but in my case, the lawyer I consulted (the stalker was in my case interfering with my work and came close to losing me a contract) said a cease and desist might make the problem worse. But unless she's actually doing you some compensable damage, go into your social media settings, set them so that she can no longer see you, and get on with your life.
 
cbg said:
Okay. Let's cut to the chase. I completely get that it's annoying. I've had an internet stalker as well. But what DAMAGES has she cost? Have you lost a job? Been demoted? Had your marriage break up? The law can't compensate you without damages.

Don't just avoid her. BLOCK her. She's not going to sue you and if she does she'll lose. Talk to an attorney if it will make you feel better but in my case, the lawyer I consulted (the stalker was in my case interfering with my work and came close to losing me a contract) said a cease and desist might make the problem worse. But unless she's actually doing you some compensable damage, go into your social media settings, set them so that she can no longer see you, and get on with your life.
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Thank you
 

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