Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546283
2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 AUGUST 2026 FEATURE Expression of Interest For more info visit micas.art/get-involved or contact people@micas.art micas.art Closing at noon on Sunday 6 September 2026 Administrator (Retail) 'Do you know anything about Are We Dating The Same Inside the Facebook group where 2,300 women warn each other about men. A lawyer explains why Maltese law gives those men more room to sue than anyone assumes A woman can post something completely true about a man in Malta's Are We Dating The Same Guy? Group and still lose if he sues her. And that's not a loop- hole, it's how the law is written. A woman posts a photo and says he cancels plans and lies about being separated. Another says a man she'd been talking to was running multiple concur- rent conversations with women and had a domestic violence case pending against him. A third names a footballer who tried to meet up despite having a partner and says she wasn't the first to hear it. A fourth unpicks a Tin- der match who claimed he grew up in Italy, moved to New Jersey, then Malta, and she's fairly sure he doesn't exist. Not even the dog is real, she says. This is daily life in Are We Dat- ing The Same Guy? MT, a private Facebook group with roughly 2,300 members. It is based in Malta and forms part of a global network with hundreds of thou- sands of members, from London to Los Angeles. You need to be vetted to join; men are banned, including the ones being discussed—sever- al have tried anyway and been blocked. Most posts are mild: Ghosting, mixed signals, "does anyone know this guy". Some describe physical violence and coercive control. A few touch on rape—one tied to an actual court case reported in this newspaper, the other a poster's own belief that a persistent, boundary-ig- noring match seemed "capable" of it. Not everyone agrees with how the group is used; some want proof before a name goes up, others worry it has drifted into judging men before a first date has even happened. "Everyone is taking this page for granted now," one comment reads. The group's admin sees it differently. "Trans- parency creates accountability, and accountability helps women stay safer," reads one of her posts. Truth doesn't stop you being sued "Truth is a defence at trial. It is not a bar to the action being brought," lawyer Veronique Dalli says, pointing to the Media and Defamation Act. To sue, a man needs to show the post caused him serious harm, that it was clearly about him, and that he's filed within a year of the content being published. The woman then has to prove the sting of what she said was substantially true, on the balance of probabilities. No conviction needed, no police report need- ed—her own testimony counts, backed by whatever she can pro- duce: messages, medical records, photos, people she told. Framing a post as a question rather than an accusation barely helps. "The context defeats what- ever protection the framing pur- ports to offer," Dalli says. "A court asks what the post conveyed, not what it grammatically said." The law's biggest trap is built for people it isn't protecting But Article 4(5) of the Media and Defamation Act limits the truth defence to public figures— politicians, officials, people act- ing professionally. An ordinary man accused of his behaviour in a relationship isn't one. Where a claim concerns someone's pri- vate life, the law goes further: The JULIANA ZAMMIT jzammit@mediatoday.com.mt Lawyer Veronique Dalli