Mark Latham — once leader of the Labor Party and now a full-time internet user — is pathologically addicted to tweeting. He is completely unable to stop. No matter how much trouble tweeting lands him in, he simply cannot take his hands off his phone. When tweeting seemingly cost him his job at the Australian Financial Review, he continued to tweet. When tweeting meant he had to pay out journalist Osman Faruqi after settling a defamation court case, he continued to tweet.
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Defamation action was launched against Latham by Sydney PhD student Mohamed Nizamdeen over two tweets accusing Nizamdeen of plotting terrorist attacks. Police charged Nizamdeen on the strength of a notebook detailing planned attacks, but charges were dropped by police when it became clear to them that “likely he did not write those comments in the notebook”. Nizamdeen’s colleague, Arsalan Khawaja, was later charged with falsifying the book to frame Nizamdeen.
Nizamdeen’s lawyers argued that, as a result of Latham keeping the tweets up after he was cleared of any wrongdoing, Nizamdeen “suffered hurt and embarrassment and has suffered and will continue to suffer loss and damage”.
According a report from 9 News, the case against Latham was settled out of court today, with the amount Latham will have to pay out estimated to exceed $100,000.
Let’s see if this is the thing that finally gets him off the horrible blue website.
Hey Buzzfed Sherlock, I’m actually the Bucks Night Porno Man, rooting a two-headed donkey while sending out this Tweeter crap.
— Real Mark Latham (@RealMarkLatham) August 16, 2015
