Canadian Cases in Private International Law in 2021

Abstract

The plaintiff brought an Internet defamation action in British Columbia against Twitter related to a series of tweets targeting his relationship with former US President Bill Clinton and linking him to a false #pizzagate conspiracy involving child trafficking. The plaintiff is a Vancouver-based businessman and philanthropist with significant ties to the United States. Twitter challenged British Columbia’s jurisdiction claiming that the action should proceed in California where there would be no liability under current US law relating to free speech.1 At first instance, the BC Supreme