(Calgary) A Quebec electronic music artist is hoping to get his career and life back on track after triumphing in a defamation trial in Alberta linked to social media posts accusing him of being a sexual predator.
” It was terrible. It all seemed like a pure nightmare and hell,” Frederik Durand said in an interview from Montreal.
“I felt hopeless. It was the worst feeling ever. »
The 35-year-old artist nicknamed “Snails” said California resident Michaela Higgins’ Instagram shares disrupted his career and caused his income to plummet. Mr. Durand and Mr.me Higgins both say they have never met.
Mr. Durand said he performed between 125 and 150 nights a year at dance clubs across North America with a musical style described as ” vomitstep » – a mix of guttural bass gurgles, booming, low-frequency bass, and synthesizers.
That all changed in early 2020, he said, when an Instagram account called @evidenceagainstsnails began reposting allegations of serious sexual impropriety against him.
“All of the material was intended to characterize Mr. Durand as a criminal and sexual predator who engaged in sexual misconduct ranging from non-consensual sexual intercourse to unwanted advances, including toward minors,” wrote Judge Nicholas Devlin of the Court of King’s Bench of Edmonton in its judgment of February 26.
Justice Devlin noted that when an alleged victim publicly supported Mr. Durand by claiming the accusation was false, she herself was attacked online.
“An obvious collateral objective of the Instagram account was to “cancel” Mr. Durand, by frequently tagging (posts to alert) his agent, his producers and the places where he was scheduled to perform,” he added.
Mr. Durand’s shows in Alberta effectively ended, leading to the matter being handled in Edmonton.
Mr. Durand said he performed about 15 shows in 2023 and his revenues fell from nearly $3 million in 2018 to a loss of $138,000 in 2022.
At first, he didn’t know how to fight back.
“When it all started, it was just pure confusion,” he said. We read things about ourselves and think, “This has literally never happened. This is not the good side of the story”. »
Justice Devlin noted that Mr. Durand kept voluminous electronic data records to prove his case, while Mr.me Higgins, while protesting the case being heard in Alberta, offered no defense.
A case of defamation that hides others
According to the judgment, Mme Higgins said she wrote to raise awareness and “protect vulnerable women and girls” in the DJ industry. But the judge said republication of a defamation was still defamation.
“All material posted on the Instagram account was second or third hand, consisting of reposts, which themselves sometimes linked to material from elsewhere on social media,” the judge explained.
“I have no difficulty in concluding that the purpose, intention and effect of the Instagram account was to characterize Mr. Durand as a bad guy and a criminal. This easily establishes defamation on its face. »
The judge awarded Mr Durand 1.5 million and said his decision should not be seen as a reflection of the #metoo movement, which gathered pace in 2017 as numerous allegations of sexual misconduct were leveled against powerful men in entertainment, media, business and other fields.
“The #metoo movement has achieved a long-overdue and salutary goal in bringing the prevalence of sexual assault and harassment to the forefront of public attention,” Justice Devlin said.
Mr. Durand’s Edmonton-based lawyer, Ellery Lew, said justice had been served.
“For me, it was the right outcome in this case, 100 percent. From what I could see […] objectively from the file (that Mr. Durand) provided to me. He was convincing that he was essentially a victim,” she argued in an interview.
The judge added that there were probably only a handful of internet defamation cases in Canada, but that was probably just the tip of the iceberg.
“It’s no different from the witch trials of old or what we heard about in authoritarian regimes where you falsely accuse your neighbor of something just because you have a personal vendetta. »
The court also imposed a permanent injunction against Mme Higgins preventing him from releasing any statement suggesting that Mr. Durand committed sexual assault, physical assault or behaved in a sexually inappropriate manner.
On the day of judgment, Mme Higgins reiterated on Instagram that it’s all about keeping women safe, adding that she can’t afford to hire a lawyer to fight this case.
“Now I have a judgment against me in Canada which, fortunately, does not concern me, because it is in another country,” she concluded, showing her middle finger.
And if the computer data turned Mr. Durand’s life upside down, he also realizes that they helped him put it back together.
“I have never thrown away a computer in my entire life, never a phone, nothing. I have messages from the first time I texted, he said. That’s what saved my life. »