A Chicago woman is facing a $US50,000 defamation lawsuit after crticising her landlord using social networking site Twitter.
The lawsuit was filed by Horizon Group Management on Monday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, with the company saying it was “maliciously and wrongfully” defamed by the “tweet”.
The company admitted it did not ask the woman to remove the Twitter post, with a high-ranking member of the company telling the Sun-Times that “We’re a ‘sue first, ask questions later’ kind of organisation”.
Twitter users have voiced their support for the woman, with some suggesting setting up a legal fund to pay for her defense and even reposting the original tweet.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
