Spanish TV network Atresmedia must compensate the woman behind Spain's viral "La he liado parda" ("I messed up") clip. It's been Madrid's Provincial Court the one ordering the media group to pay her €50,000 plus legal interest, besides removing the recording from its TV, radio, and online platforms.
Judges claim the original news interview wasn't the problem as it was deemed regular journalistic coverage. The offence is in the many years of reuse for comedy and parody, as those clips ended up becoming 'memes' on TV and the internet. The woman had agreed to appear in a news report explaining the chemical incident at a swimming pool in 2008, but not to her image and voice becoming what it became. Court found that repeated humorous or mocking uses of it violated her honour and image rights.
Other than the compensation itself, this ruling sets a notable precedent for viral clips involving private individuals in Europe, as now hundreds of similarly affected people showing up in the many different comedy channels and social media accounts could take their cases to court. Judges acknowledge that internet virality per se was not Atresmedia's fault, but underlined that the broadcaster's repeated use of the clip kept the woman's exposure alive for years, thus worsening the impact on her personal and professional life.