A B.C. Supreme Court judge has issued an arrest warrant for a blogger who refused to take down posts containing false and defamatory claims about a local business, warning that misinformation online carries real-world consequences.Justice John Gibb-Carsley ruled that blogger Daryl MacAskill, who wrote under the name “Ace Ventura,” was in contempt of court for defying a 2024 injunction ordering him to delete blog posts targeting Sandher Fruit Packers Ltd. of Kelowna. The posts included baseless allegations ranging from money laundering to terrorism and murder, which the judge described as “manifestly false.”.“In the age of conspiracy theories and how quickly information can be disseminated on the internet, false information has consequences,” wrote Justice Gibb-Carsley. He said that while freedom of speech is fundamental, the posts in question lacked any factual basis and did not qualify as being in the public interest.Sandher Fruit’s lawyers told the court they could find no justification for what they called “malicious, false and fabricated statements.” Among the inflammatory comments, MacAskill referred to the company as the “Sandher crime family” and suggested involvement in serious crimes without any evidence. He also sent one company manager over 400 emails, the court was told..Justice Gibb-Carsley emphasized that the blogger’s actions went beyond opinion or criticism. “The spreading of misinformation or lies is not in the public interest,” he wrote, adding that MacAskill must now be brought before the court to answer for his contempt.The judge concluded that the plaintiffs had shown strong grounds for a defamation claim and that MacAskill had no valid defence.
