Supreme Court of Cassation: it is not defamation if the sender is unaware that the Messenger account is accessed by several people.

The sending of defamatory messages through the Messenger platform does not constitute the crime of (aggravated) defamation  when the use of this channel - in the belief of the agent - is not public but it is believed to interact with a private messaging application and to speak directly. The defendant had circulated a letter with harmful and defamatory content to the recipient, without being aware that other subjects also had access to the device (all belonging to an association to which the victim also belonged, as President). This circumstance makes the intent absent since there is a lack - according to the Supreme Court, which ruled so in its judgment no. 36217/2024 - of the awareness of communication "with several persons" required by the incriminating provision for the purposes of the existence of the intent of defamation.