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A recent decision of the Court of Cassation has just clarified what the French justice understands by “friend” when this term refers to the contacts established on the social networks. An important decision because it will surely set precedent as to how social links on Facebook and other networks are appreciated.
The case dealt with the appeal to the Court of Cassation which a lawyer had just brought against a decision taken against him by the Bar Association.
In his request, the complainant challenged the trial panel, on the grounds that its members were “friends” on Facebook ”.
And the highest French jurisdiction, the Court of Cassation confirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal. The two courts thus considered that the term “friend” on social networks did not refer to the traditional concept of friendship, which implies real proximity.
For the judges of the Court of Cassation, the “friendship” on Facebook, or other social networks, would only translate an easier form of communication. In other words, it would facilitate, between the persons considered, contacts provoked by a community of tastes or the exercise of the same profession.
It should be noted that this judgment of the Court of Cassation was awaited in view of previous court decisions.
The Court had had to consider the question of friendship on Facebook from the angle of the private or public nature of messages exchanged between “friends” precisely on social networks.
It was therefore a matter of knowing, for the judges, whether, in each case, the conditions were met for the messages exchanged on social networks to be considered as private exchanges.
It appears that for this, it is first necessary that the “friends” are few and that they share a set of tastes and interests which seem to create between them sufficiently strong links.
It is also important that the persons concerned ensure that their account, on the social network, is accessible only to their “friends”. It is therefore essential that the degree of confidentiality it allows be carefully checked.