Twitter jokes on trial: how one tweet turned a man into a criminal
By MICHELE CATALANO
“Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!“
And with that tweet, the life of Paul Chambers took a very wrong turn.
Chambers was referring to the fact that the airport was closed due to a snowstorm. He was flying out the next week from Doncaster, England to visit his girlfriend in Ireland and was anxious his flight would be canceled. He did what is a very common thing in the age of social media – he put his thoughts out there for people to read. He assumed what he said would be seen only by his followers, sort of like talking in a room full of friends. But days later, the tweet was found by airport manager Shaun Duffield who told the court yesterday that the threat was not considered to be credible and no effect on airport operations.
Even though higher authorities were taking charge on the perceived threat, one would think the saga would end there, where it was deemed non credible. They’d realize it was a joke, slap Chambers on the wrist while telling him not to do anything like that again, and move on. But that’s not what happened at all. Instead, the case was handed over to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Chambers was arrested, questioned for seven hours (where he had to explain Twitter to the people doing the questioning), suspended from his job and banned for life from Robin Hood airport. Yesterday, almost five months after what he thought was an innocuous – albeit hyperbolic - joke tweet, Paul Chambers was found guilty of sending a menacing message over a public telecommunications network. He was fined £385 plus £600 costs (which British actor/writer Stephen Fry has offered to pay) and now has a criminal record that will keep him from becoming an accountant.
