A judge in Brazil has ordered that the Facebook memorial page for a dead 24-year-old journalist be removed at the request of the girls mother.
The mother of Juliana Ribeiro Campos filed the lawsuit and argued that messages, songs, and photos posted by friends and family of the girl led her to suffer from “extreme distress.”
Campos passed away after suffering complications from a surgical procedure.
The girls mother Dolores Pereira Coutinho campaigned for months before taking legal action against the Facebook memorial page.
Following the court case the memorial page was still online and Facebook refused to comment on a matter of the court.
Judge Vania de Paula Arantes ruled in favor of the mother on March 19 and again on April 10. In the ruling the judge demanded that the Facebook memorial page be removed immediately.
In their third ruling judge Arantes gave Facebook 48 hours to remove the profile. Failure to obey the court order can bring with it imprisonment.
According to Mrs. Coutinho she attempted for seven months to have the memorial removed but was met only with automatic email replies.
Per the social networks policies the memorial page is only available to friends who can continue to post tributes to Juliana Ribeiro Campos.
Speaking to the BBC Mrs. Coutinho called the memorial a “wailing wall” and then added:
“On Christmas Eve many of her 200 friends posted pictures they had taken with her and recalled their memories. She was very charismatic, very popular. I cried for days.
Judge Arantes says Facebook memorial pages go against “the right of personal dignity and inflicted great suffering on the mother, due to the premature death of her only child”.
Facebook in the meantime is violating its own terms of service. The company’s policy specifically states that memorial pages can be taken down at the request of a “verified family member.”
I'm wondering who specifically at Facebook they're threatening with imprisonment if they don't remove the page immediately.
I understand how the mom would want the page down, but I am sure that the page was a good way for her friends to remember her. It is a hard choice for sure!
I am glad they finally did take the page down. Absolutely ridiculous that a grieving mother would have to go to that length to get it removed.
How strange that she had to go to court 3 times about this! I wonder what FB's reasoning was for not removing it?
The page seems like a healthy way for her friends to honor and remember her. Her mother is not obligated to look at it! Ridiculous that she had to get the court involved.
Couldn't the mother just not look at the page? Someday she may regret not having all the kind words/remembrances to look back on…