Police Say Facebook Is Liable In Man's Death, Because He Was At A Flashmob Organized On Facebook

from the make-it-stop dept

Fri, May 14th 2010 10:48am — Mike Masnick

Following the story we just had about a judge trying to order Facebook to stop students from skipping classes, an anonymous reader sends in an even more ridiculous "blame Facebook" story. This one takes place in France, and involves a flash mob that was organized on Facebook -- as many flash mobs are these days. This particular flash mob involved getting a lot of people together and having them all drink an alcoholic beverage. Tragically, however, a young man died during the flash mob (Google translation of the original story). Apparently this particular participant in the flash mob tried to slide down a guard rail, but missed, and fell off a bridge to his death. The article quotes some people suggesting Facebook should be blamed, and the person who submitted the post notes that a police spokesperson on TV also blamed Facebook:

According to Mohamed Douane, a police official representative, on a live broadcast on the TV channel BFMTV, Facebook is liable for allowing the flash mob to be made by providing a space on which you can express yourself. In addition, whoever had the idea of making the flash mob are also liable for the death of this man, and this case would be under investigation, in order to find who had the idea of such a flash mob.

Yes, it's tragic that this guy died, but blaming Facebook? And whoever organized a get together of people, because this guy apparently drank too much? That's going way too far.

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Filed Under: flash mob, france, liability
Companies: facebook

45 Comments

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Ima Fish (profile), 14 May 2010 @ 10:54am

"Apparently this particular participant in the flash mob tried to slide down a guard rail, but missed, and fell off a bridge to his death"

It's strange how when the heard gets thinner, it also gets stronger. Weeding out the idiots is a good thing. Now if we could only get rid of that idiot cop.
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Tom Landry (profile), 14 May 2010 @ 11:00am

This is what we call putting a little bleach in the gene pool.

nature weeds out the idiots.
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DH's Love Child, 14 May 2010 @ 11:03am

I think we also need to blame
The builders of the bridge for making it so easy to fall. sheesh
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Robert Ring (profile), 14 May 2010 @ 11:09am

"by providing a space on which you can express yourself"

So the government should be liable, too, right?
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Another User, 14 May 2010 @ 11:13am

Don't forget. Need to find who ever put in the guard rail. Can't have things like that tempting people to slide down.
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Dan (profile), 14 May 2010 @ 11:14am

ROFL
ROFL {at the police}
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Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2010 @ 11:14am

I forgot to add, that the young man who died was a voluntary firemen.
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Another AC, 14 May 2010 @ 11:20am

Let's see. The guy who organized the event is to be blamed, and b/c he used Facebook to 'express himself', the company should also be blamed.

If he tweeted about it, Twitter should be blamed. If he emailed using Hotmail or Gmail, well, Microsoft and Goggle are totally to blame too.

But why stop there? I mean they drank alcohol. If they had just drank water, this wouldn't of happened. So we should also blame the store that sold them the alcohol. As well, just to make sure we've covered all the bases the maker of the alcohol should be blamed.

As others have already said, whoever put in that guard rail should be taking some of this blame too.

Someone has to be blamed after all. Accidents don't just happen, someone must be at fault.
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Another User, 14 May 2010 @ 11:27am

Why stop there!
Also Al Gore should be blamed for inventing the internet which allowed sites like Facebook to exist. And the ISPs for allowing the web traffic which caused the flash mob. /S
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Vic (still another AC), 14 May 2010 @ 11:28am

Re:
"Accidents don't just happen, someone must be at fault."

It amazes me that that "someone" is never a dead person! Do not speak of them bad or do not speak at all.
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Ben Doom (profile), 14 May 2010 @ 11:29am

Wasn't there an amendment or something?
So, basically, if you provide a place for people to speak freely in order to arrange to freely assemble, you are breaking the law.

I think I read something about this somewhere....
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Danny, 14 May 2010 @ 11:37am

Re:
There's a lot more to blame than that.

The farmers who grew the ingredients for the alcohol.
The makers of his shoes for not preventing him from falling.
The bartender the sold him alcohol.
The people the bartender pays rent/mortgage to.
The bartender's family (if they have any.)
(Because its their fault that the bartender took up bartending as a way to pay for stuff.)
The bartender's boss. Its their fault for hiring the bartender.
The owner of the bar. Its their fault for putting a bar at that location.

.....
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Ima Fish (profile), 14 May 2010 @ 11:37am

Re: I think we also need to blame
How about every single person on this planet who failed to install a net to catch the person who did fall!?
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Pierre Guillery, 14 May 2010 @ 11:37am

Facebook, flashmobs in France, death of a drunken firefighter...
Here in France, this FB flashmob problem is making the headlines - everybody's talking about it (lack of anything else to report?). From 5 to 10,000 people meeting in town squares, in tens of cities (one such event announced in Paris), lots of alcohol, local authorities dont know what to do...

This policeman did say what's reported above - but the interior minister (who isn't usually that considerate...) just said that "something needs to be done about this flashmob phenomenon - but that blaming Facebook or simply banning the events is not the answer".

Politicians and people in the street alike are now acknowledging (some with surprise!) the "power of FB" and (all in all) recognize that the social network is just the medium. Interesting "debate"... Lots of people just discovered the "importance" of FB: over 15m accounts in France - a quarter of the entire population. :)
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A Dan (profile), 14 May 2010 @ 11:45am

Re: Wasn't there an amendment or something?
This is France we're talking about. They don't tend to go by our Constitution.
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Free Capitalist (profile), 14 May 2010 @ 11:48am

Re: Facebook, flashmobs in France, death of a drunken firefighter...
Thanks, Pierre. It is encouraging to hear that at least not all politicians are clinically insane.

Just be watchful of widespread reporting of this kind, as we should all be world-wide. I sometimes have my doubts that this is simply blatant ignorance. Being a tyrant is easy when a misinformed public becomes outraged at all the wrong things, for all the wrong reasons.
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Jason, 14 May 2010 @ 11:52am

Re: Facebook, flashmobs in France, death of a drunken firefighter...
There have been many posts on this site about the police in the US using Craigslist to track down criminals, pimps etc.. However that has not stopped several attorney generals from blaming Craigslist for the activity of it's users. Perhaps the police in France could track the flashmobs using Facebook and then arrest folks when their behavior breaks the law. They would know where they going to crop up, when it would happen and be able to react faster.
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Fushta, 14 May 2010 @ 11:56am

Re:
Ban soap boxes
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Seshan (profile), 14 May 2010 @ 11:56am

Wow, a flash mob to get drunk. How lame. They guy should be blamed for coming up with such a stupid flashmob idea.
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Fushta, 14 May 2010 @ 11:58am

Re:
Perhaps firemen only obtain the skill of sliding down vertical poles.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2010 @ 12:07pm

Humans have an unfortunate tendency to look for scapegoats. Since they can't make a dead man answer for his own death, they do the next thing to it by attempting to hold Facebook accountable. This satisfies the human emotional need to blame somebody other than the accident victim and possibly serves other purposes for the government such as reducing Facebook's influence in other more important matters.
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MAC, 14 May 2010 @ 12:10pm

Blame Joseph Marie Jacquard for inventing the predecessor to the computer, the Jacquard loom.

Perhaps they should arrest his great, great, great grandson; he might invent something that will prod someone to do something really stupid in 2235...
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bigpicture, 14 May 2010 @ 12:10pm

Re: Missing the Point
I think that you are missing the point here. Facebook is a tool for fad idiots and if you didn't put the tool in their hands then they could not do any harm with it.

Similar reason, and similar legal rulings as to why you should not put a gun in the hands of the mentally challenged, or bartenders do not give totally free alcohol access to the alcohol consumption challenged, or they will be liable for any adverse results.
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detour, 14 May 2010 @ 12:17pm

Re:
So by this rationale, if the flash mob had been organized by putting a flyer on a community billboard at city hall then who would be liable? The city? The billboard manufacturer? The paper maker? The printer manufacturer? The ink manufacturer? The library/Staples/Kinkos where the flyer was printed?
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Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2010 @ 12:21pm

Re: Re:
all of the above
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Dark Helmet (profile), 14 May 2010 @ 12:23pm

Re:
Are most fireman conscripted?
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NoahFence, 14 May 2010 @ 12:30pm

Blame
It's God's fault plain and simple!
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Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2010 @ 12:31pm

Re: Re: Missing the Point
Not event remotely the same.

Put a gun in a retard's hand, you take away the ability of the other individual to avoid an accident. If the mentally challenged person shoots somebody, it is most clearly not the other person's fault.

However, look at this case. The man chose, by his own will, to attend this gathering. There is no justifiable means of blaming the person who started this gathering, or even the medium in which they used to organize it (in this case, Facebook).

If we're of the mind to excuse the actions of a person under the influence, then we wouldn't be handing out DUI's and prison sentences to those that have been apart of terrible accidents relating to alcohol consumption.

It was his own fault - not anyone else's.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 14 May 2010 @ 12:47pm

Re: Blame
"It's God's fault plain and simple!"

No, no, no, dumbass, it's only God's doing if it's a GOOD thing from the point of view of whoever's saying it. You should pay attention to post game sports interviews, where you always hear:

"Yeah, it was a good win today. First I have to thank God. Without him, none of this would be possible. It's only because of him that we won today."

Yet you never hear:

"Why did we lose to the Celtics? Because of God, stupid interview woman! God fucked it all up. We had an amazing gameplan, we had the best player in the league, all of our shots were on target, but then God pulled down his holy pantaloons and took a big steamy dump on us. Holy Shit! That's what we called it during that last time out. A Holy Shit on our game. Stupid God, always making the ball clang off the rim..."
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MAC, 14 May 2010 @ 12:49pm

Re: Re: Missing the Point
What the hell ever happened to "taking responsibility for your own actions?"

Am I missing something here? Are we so wrapped up in blaming someone or something else for something that we did have we forgotten about 'personal' responsibility?

I was injured on a scooter because the idiot I was giving a ride to stood up at speed on a curve to impress a girl. Did I blame him? Of course not, I blamed myself for letting that idiot on the back of my scooter in the first place.

People need to grow and put responsibilty squarely where it belongs; with themseleves...
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MAC, 14 May 2010 @ 12:50pm

Re: Re: Missing the Point
What the hell ever happened to "taking responsibility for your own actions?"

Am I missing something here? Are we so wrapped up in blaming someone or something else for something that we did have we forgotten about 'personal' responsibility?

I was injured on a scooter because the idiot I was giving a ride to stood up at speed on a curve to impress a girl. Did I blame him? Of course not, I blamed myself for letting that idiot on the back of my scooter in the first place.

People need to grow and put responsibilty squarely where it belongs; with themseleves...
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Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2010 @ 1:08pm

It's the cops fault for not arresting the mob before any accidents happened.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2010 @ 1:09pm

Re:
And if he simply spoke to people face to face then he used free speech, hence, sue the govt for allowing free speech!
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CastorTroy-Libertarian, 14 May 2010 @ 1:13pm

Re: Re:
And of course the RIVER!!! how dare it let some idiot fall and die, we need a Government Org to prevent that part again too...
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IOERROR, 14 May 2010 @ 1:36pm

We are ALL to blame.
I think anyone who has a facebook page should be blamed.. I mean if we didn't make facebook so popular then that guy wouldn't have used it.

Do you think the prison is big enough to hold all the facebook users?
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sdfsdkwerj-24b (profile), 14 May 2010 @ 1:58pm

Re: Re:
Ok... if you're gonna go that far, it's God's fault and therefore (as an illogical consequence of this), his representative on earth - the pope - should be indicted for this as well.

Maybe we could include a few nubile virgins and a volcano and have a good old conflagration.
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Danny, 14 May 2010 @ 2:21pm

Re: Re:
Oh and one more responsible party....every other person that was at the event. If they had stopped him from sliding down the rail he may still be alive.
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NoahFence, 14 May 2010 @ 2:37pm

Re: Re: Blame
"Stupid God, always making the ball clang off the rim..."

Bwaaahaaahaaaahahahahahahaha!!!!

Every time I read that, I hear Homer Simpson's voice!!!
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taoareyou (profile), 14 May 2010 @ 3:22pm

Re: Re: Re: Missing the Point
Imagine if I get drunk and wreck my car, killing myself. Who should my family sue? The store for selling alcohol to people? The government for allowing alcohol to be legal? The company that makes the beer? What about the car company? Or the dealer that sold me my car? Or the gas station that I fueled up at last? Maybe the city for maintaining the streets that allowed me to go buy the beer in the first place?

Maybe sue them all. They are all to blame. Certainly not me. I died. I must be a victim.
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TtfnJohn (profile), 15 May 2010 @ 8:57am

Re: Re: Missing the Point
"bartenders do not give totally free alcohol access to the alcohol consumption challenged,"

Gee, political correctness gone completely haywire?

For the record I'm an alcoholic (in recovery, thank you) not some namby pamby PC expression of the same. The real word, the real condition.

Second point. When I was out there practising my alcoholism I'd find a drink anywhere I could bartender rules or no bartender rules. I drank it, no one poured it down my throat, though I'd actually have appreciated that sometimes, I'm responsible for my consumption and my behaviour after consuming the stuff.

As for facebook being a home for fad idiots one could make the same argument about HuffPo (it gets easier every day to do that) or the Web in general so perhaps we should take web access and internet access away from everyone who doesn't pass your idiocy test?

Hold it a minute! Life is a home for fad idiots! How do we test for those and make sure they no longer have access to life? Got a test for that too?

hehehe

ttfn

John
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Anonymous Coward, 16 May 2010 @ 12:04am

somebody mentioned him being a victim earlier...he isnt, as far as i know organizing a gathering and actually gathering is a not a crime, and im fairly sure that you arent a victim of suicide, it seems your the one benifiting in your mind from suicide
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Ben Doom (profile), 17 May 2010 @ 8:27am

Re: Re: Wasn't there an amendment or something?
Hmm. Missed that note when I was reading.
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carmen, 4 Sep 2010 @ 3:35pm

OMG, The cop or public figure who accused facebook should be put away and fired for saying something so STUPID
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freelance writing jobs, 7 Sep 2010 @ 3:12am

That's really sucks. Why don't they blame the company that made this alcohol or that shop that sold him that bottle\s!?
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Part Timer, 25 Jan 2011 @ 7:48pm

Pretty ridiculous
So if someone from Ukraine shoot an American in China, then China is to be blamed. Ridiculous... LMAO
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