Britons back Lord McAlpine over Sally Bercow action "18-24 year olds have grown up in an online world, where studying, working, and socialising are all heavily reliant on the internet, and where social media as a means of communication is very much the norm," said Caroline Kean, a defamation lawyer. This is why we were surprised to find that, even in light of recent high profile cases, such as that of Lord McAlpine, so few understand the dangers of defamation online. With more and more people becoming creators of their own content and social commentators, we may well see an increase in defamation claims against younger people who are just not aware of the dangers. It adds to concerns that social media users are unaware of the potential legal consequences of their postings. Last month a judge ordered nine people to pay compensation to the jailed footballer Ched Evans" rape victim after they illegally publicly named her on Twitter. The Director of Public Prosecutions is, however, preparing guidelines expected to make it less likely people will be prosecuted for "grossly offensive" messages, following concerns that free speech was being threatened by cases such as the jailing of a man who made a Facebook "joke" about the missing schoolgirl April Jones.