Twitter user ordered to pay damages for Ryanair terror attack threat

RYANAIR has tracked down a Twitter user who tweeted “Hello @Ryanair. You have 15 minutes before I commit the biggest terror attack the UK has ever seen on one of your planes. Be ready.” 

The terror threat was false but the Irish low cost airline successfully tracked down the anonymous offender Brian Lake of Koppel, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The carrier then filed extortion and defamation proceedings, claiming the tweet was written with the “specific intent of harming Ryanair’s business and its reputation of providing high-quality, reliable, low-cost goods and services in the commercial airline industry”.

A US court judge Maureen P Kelly has now ordered Lake to pay a total of $284,148.

Ryanair spokesman Robin Kiely said: “We welcome this US District Court ruling. The safety of our customers, people and aircraft is our number one priority and we will not allow anyone to impugn, threaten or undermine our 32-year unblemished safety record and will pursue any ‘anonymous’ social media offenders through the courts.”

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