Woman cleared of fine imposed upon continued use of social media account
Responsibility of closing defendant’s account is on the authorities, Appeals Court rules
Abu Dhabi: A woman, who had been convicted for failing to close down her Twitter account as ordered by a lower court after she violated online rules, has been acquitted on appeal.
According to court records, the woman had racked up certain online violations that amounted to an official account closure order. The defendant had, however, continued to use and post through the account.
Eventually, the Court of First Instance found her guilty of failing to comply with the closure order, and fined her Dh5,000. It also ordered the confiscation of her device.
The defendant appealed the decision, and her lawyer argued that the ordered account closure should have been implemented by the authorities. Since this was not done, the defendant was not aware of her responsibility to close down her account, and had continued to use it.
The Court of Appeals found in favour of the defendant, agreeing that the onus of shutting down the account is on the authorities. The higher court then voided the conviction.