A US reality TV star is suing Meta (Facebook), Reddit and Google in Ireland’s High Court, claiming he has been the victim of a defamatory online campaign on their platforms.
Scott Wern formerly appeared on 90 Day Fiancé: Love In Paradise and The Family Chantel, which were broadcast on US network TLC.
The show 90 Day Fiancé was based around the premise of four foreign women travelling to the US to live with their prospective spouses for the first time using a unique time-limited visa.
At the end of the trial, each couple had to decide whether they wanted to marry.
The Family Chantel was a spin-off show that followed the adventures of American Chantel Everett, her Dominican husband Pedro Jimeno, and their families as they navigated an intercultural marriage.
Chantel Everett and Pedro Jimeno married after appearing on the original show.
Scott (52) has previously complained about how he was portrayed on the shows saying he was edited to appear as a ‘villain’.
But now, a close friend has said abuse and false claims spread about him online on platforms controlled by the three internet giants over the past two years have had an even more devastating effect on his life.
Chantel Everett married after appearing on the show
Legal proceedings against the three companies were lodged by Scott in the High Court on March 28.
There is no cap on potential damages that can be issued in a High Court case.
On Friday, Wern confirmed he was responsible for filing the cases but declined to comment further.
A friend of Scott’s later spoke with this newspaper and said taking the case in the High Court in Dublin was a last resort.
“Scott has previously contacted these companies through their online forums and complained about what is happening but he got no response,” the source said.
“Subsequently, he wrote to these companies asking them to remove this content and de-platform these people, warning that if they failed to do so, he would have no choice but to take a legal action.
“And again he has had no response.
“Scott doesn’t want to engage in a legal battle against these companies but he feels he has been given no choice.
“This has been going on for the past two years.
“For example, on Redditt a ‘snark’ is basically a sub-reddit on the site set up to discuss a particular topic or person.
“One of these was focused on Scott and there were 900 people on it. These people dedicated themselves to finding things out about Scott.
“He lost jobs over it when they contacted his employers and once, when he was on a dating website in Ireland, they warned the women on the site to stay away from him.
“These people were trying to outdo each other in the damage they were doing to him.
“And it wasn’t just an online thing — it was having a serious effect on him in the real world too.”
The friend said Scott was eager to have the matter dealt with amicably but wanted this content permanently removed and the groups permanently shut down to allow him to get on with his life.
“He’s interested in the match-making festival in Lisdoonvarna in September but that’s probably going to happen too soon for him to get this sorted,” he said.
“Scott is just a normal average guy who got stuck on a tv show that millions of people watch.
“So a lot of these people are just jealous of him, they think this could have been them and they hate him for it and they are trying to destroy his life.
“So even though he’s not saying the companies have done this, he is saying they are platforming it and he wants that to stop.”
Scott previously spoke of the effect of being cast an expendable villain on a reality TV show.
“If you’re a villain,” he said, “they make you expendable. And then you have to live with those consequences.”
