Facebook "Stalker" is Not Guilty

Be careful who you request as a friend on Facebook—it could land you in court. At least that’s what happened to Michael Hurst of the UK.

Hurst was involved in the first-ever Facebook harassment trial, which took place in Birmingham, but was found not guilty. Hurst sent his ex-girlfriend (whom he dated for nearly a year and a half) a friend request.

This may seem to be on the silly side, if this was really the only interaction that occurred, but ex Sophie Sladden said otherwise. In fact, the Facebook friending happened after Hurst had a book sent to Sladden’s office, also after the break up. The court cited the book incident to be potential harassment, but not the Facebook request.

What’s really interesting is this: the couple broke up because of a fight, not just any quarrel, but a heated discussion over…a decision to watch or not to watch a TV show. (But we digress.) [BBC]