Q COSTA RICA / In the stranger than fake news, a Turrialba businessman was sentenced to a 20 days fine for using offensive words on Facebook against a local news correspondent.
Josué Hernandez published on Turrialbadigital.com a photograph of a traffic accident that resulted in the death of a minor.
The businessman, onh is company’s Facebook page, repeatedly called Hernandez “payaso” (clown) for the report and said that turrialbadigital.com and another news source known for its graphic content, should not be supported as “they profit off other people’s grief”.
The Turrialba trial court considered the Facebook content offensive, sentencing the entrepreneur to a 20 days fine or one day in jail. But being a first offence, the sentence was dropped to time served.
However, the businessman must pay ¢80,000 to the victim, Josué Hernández who is also a correspondent for Telenoticias and La Nacion.
The moral here, watch what you say (post, write, etc) on Facebook and other social media. As in the case of the Turrialba businessmen, Costa Rica’s courts don’t tolerate offensive language on social media.
Source Telenoticias
