Facebook and divorce

Filed in archive litigation on December 27, 2009

Does Facebook cause divorce?

According to The Telegraph, lawyers are saying Facebook is named in one out every five divorce petitions. They say Facebook is allowing people to have inappropriate chats with people, connecting them up. The newspaper goes on to report that flirty emails and messages found on Facebook pages are increasingly being cited as evidence of unreasonable behaviour. And computer firms are cashing in, developing software allowing suspicious spouses to electronically spy on their partner's online activities.

So is Facebook causing divorce? Hardly. As PC World blogger JR Raphael says, if we cheat in the regular world, we're likely to do it in the online world. One mirrors the other.

Still, the scary part about these sorts of findings is that it might just be a matter of time until someone sues Facebook for busting up their marriage, or putting them in a position where they embarked on a cyber affair.