Not an obscene racist after all: 4 flagged for Facebook fake

Teenagers can be cruel, and so can the Internet. Mixing the two can lead to some real drama-fests, and four Illinois teenagers are about to find out if there are consequences to using Facebook to aggressively target a classmate. The teens have been accused of creating a fake Facebook profile for one of their peers, representing him as a sexually obscene racist and amassing hundreds of “friends” as if he were running the profile himself, thus potentially running off college recruiters. The teen’s mother has now filed a lawsuit against the four, accusing them of defamation and causing severe emotional distress.

None of the teenagers involved are named in the lawsuit—the victim is represented as John Doe and the four “attackers” are referred to by their initials, R.C, A.G., K.Z., and M.S. According to the complaint, the group created a Facebook profile for John Doe (an apparently well-respected student involved in athletics and other school activities) by using real photos of him and posting some of his real contact information, such as his cell phone number. However, the group also made numerous statements on his profile as him, many of which were obscene, racist, and sexual.

Apparently the profile was just authentic enough that 580 people became friends with this Fake John Doe, many of which were other students at the school who knew the real John Doe. They were seemingly unaware that the profile was not actually his—“dude [John Doe] what are you doing is it even you,” one friend asked on the profile’s Wall, while another friend learned that it might be fake and commented “Ok thts good cuz I would be a lil scared to be this guys friend [sic].”

Those behind the fake profile sent vulgar, sexual comments to various peers at school, and the complaint says that at least one person who read the profile represents a collegiate athletic team who raised concerns over recruiting John Doe as a result.

The potential to affect Doe’s college plans is what could have have dragged this prank across the line from just mean to cruel. Not only did Doe have to change athletic clubs as a result of the profile, Doe’s siblings also had to move to a different club and coach. He stopped going to athletic events where the defendants would be, and had to make certain changes at school as a result.

The complaint accuses the four students intended malice when creating the profile, therefore categorizing it as defamation. Not only did Doe’s family suffer out-of-pocket costs in dealing with the aftermath of the profile, Doe himself suffered “severe emotional distress” and could have even been passed over by numerous college recruiters. The profile has since been removed by Facebook (after much work by Doe’s family, it seems), but the lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages against the four attackers.

Most cases like this attempt to unmask an anonymous critic, but in this instance, the identities of the four students involved in the creation of the profile are already known. As a result, the four students’ alleged actions could end up costing them and their families a lot of money. Though we believe being a huge tool on the Internet should be (and is, currently) protected under the law, there can also be very real consequences—especially when ‘Net bullies forget that online anonymity can be a very fleeting thing.

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