AN electrician has been fined £4,000 for “naming and shaming” a client in a “targeted attack” on social media in a dispute over an unpaid bill.
Jon Peacock, of electric company Star-Delta, posted details of the fee dispute online on 30 November 2023 as Facebook user “Low Level Banter”, according to the Island’s data protection watchdog.
The post included the full names and photographs of a client and his partner, as well as information about their financial situation.
It was shared over 800 times and generated over 200 comments, resulting in the two victims receiving abusive messages.
In the comments of the post, other people made insulting comments about the client and his partner – including calling them “scum” and “rats”, naming their employer and identifying their home address.
Although Mr Peacock was notified that the Jersey Data Protection Authority was investigating the incident, he continued to post about the dispute on social media.
More manipulated images and videos of the client and his partner were posted by the “Low Level Banter” Facebook account from December 2023 to February 2024.
Some of the posts also included “insulting language” about the pair, the authority said.
Mr Peacock denied having control over this social media page, so the authority asked Facebook owner Meta to provide information about its ownership and administration.
The information confirmed that Jon Peacock was the owner and administrator of the Facebook page, and a Star-Delta email address was linked to the account.
The authority found that this was a “targeted and deliberate attack” on the client and his partner.
The authority said: “Star-Delta pursued the client and his partner on social media on purpose with the intention to name and shame them for disputing payment of a bill.
“Star-Delta found and manipulated images of the client and their partner, such as attaching images of their faces to the bodies of rats, animating their photographs etc.
“This was a deliberate campaign initiated by Star-Delta to ‘name and shame’ the client and his partner, rather than pursuing them through the Petty Debts Court in the usual way.”
In an impact statement, the victim said that the incident had caused “very real distress” for him and his partner and had a “continued negative impact” on their lives.
The authority found that there was “no lawful basis” for the information to be shared on Facebook.
The client and his partner had given personal information to Star-Delta so electrical works could be carried out at their home and, by sharing it online, Mr Peacock had used the data in a way that was “incompatible with the original purpose for which it was collected and contravened”.
His behaviour was described as “vindictive”.
Mr Peacock was also criticised for failing to co-operate with the investigation by initially refusing to delete the initial Facebook post, and continuing to publish more posts about the client.
During the investigation, it emerged that Star-Delta was not registered with the authority as is required by law and it had not paid its registration fee.
The authority issued a formal reprimand and fined Star-Delta £4,000 due to “the seriousness of the matter”.
The fine must be paid by June 2025, and Star-Delta has also been ordered to register with the authority and pay the relevant fee.
Mr Peacock refused to provide requested information which would have allowed the authority to consider the impact of the fine on Star-Delta’s financial situation.
He also had the right to appeal the fine, but did not do so.
The authority concluded: “It is not acceptable to use that information to publicly shame clients on Facebook (or any other social media platform) as a means of prompting payment or otherwise settling a fee dispute.”
