MAY 26, 2023|SOCIAL MEDIA
Should Social Media Humiliation Be Part Of A Legal Punishment?

A Spanish YouTuber known as Dalas Review (real name Daniel Santomé) was involved in what would ordinarily be a forgettable legal case only tabloids would follow. After a messy breakup with his girlfriend, he posted nine videos to more than 10 million subscribers on his popular YouTube channel calling her father an “abuser,” and a “sick coward who’s messed up in the head.” After a judge found him liable for defamation, he ordered an unusual sentence. In addition to paying the fine, he was ordered to "read his sentence weekly on his channel for a month."
In essence, the ruling uses the YouTuber's fame against him. Is this a precedent we might start to see in other legal cases? And is it even ethical to mandate humiliation as a punishment? This may seem like an innocent and clear cut case ... after all, he did use his platform to commit the crime, in the eyes of the judge, so there is a certain symmetry to the ruling. I can see both sides here. What do you think?
Book Rohit To Speak
Want to bring these ideas to your next event?
Rohit turns the thinking behind posts like this one into keynotes for audiences around the world, from Fortune 500 leadership teams to global industry conferences.
Learn More About Speaking
How It All Started
A Short Backstory Of This Blog
This is a blog about non-obvious ideas. Originally launched on the Typepad platform in 2005 as the Influential Marketing blog, the stories at first focused mainly on digital marketing while Rohit worked at Ogilvy Advertising. In 2015 Rohit officially rebranded to the Non-Obvious Insights Blog and published his WSJ bestseller Non-Obvious. For the past twenty one years, this blog has coined new terms, introduced future marketing practices and inspired the next generation of non-obvious thinkers and marketers.




