Autism at Center Stage of CyberBullying Trial This Coming Week in Oslo: Granath v Wright

A trial involving Bitcoin creator, scientist and philanthropist Dr. Craig "Satoshi" Wright and a social media influencer, Magnus Granath, is set to begin in Oslo, Norway on Monday (September 12).  Granath is a resident of Norway.  The case involves cyberbullying.

Wright, a co-creator of Bitcoin, and now a proponent of the BSV Blockchain, was born autustic. The Australian engineer claims that he was the target of a cyberbullying campaign by Mr. Granath.  In this matter, Granath is seeking to determine if his social media campaign against Wright was lawful and not defamatory.  Nevermind the hurtful nature of said campaign.

Among the alleged tweets by Granath:

“Craig Wright is a very sad and pathetic scammer. Clearly mentally ill. Everything about him induces deep cringe."

And...

“I have nothing but contempt for trash like Roger, Faketoshi, PedoCalvin and all their enabling scum.”

That tweet alluded to other well known names in the crypto space.  The "Roger" referenced is believed to be one Roger Ver, a proponent of Bitcoin Cash and one of the first Bitcoin millionaires.

PedoCalvin is presumably referring to billionaire and philanthropist Calvin Ayre, who despite having just turned 60, is still deemed to be a stud by many 20-something model types.

Faketoshi is likely a reference to Dr. Wright.

Granath is also accused of creating a hashtag #CraigWrightIsAFraud to spread disinformation about Wright.

Jordan Atkins of CoinGeek explains the significance of the case as it applies to protecting vulnerable individuals on the Net, those who, up until now, were incapable of defending themselves.

Granath v Wright is about far more than a simple defamation trial. It’s about the ability of the bullied to fight against the bullies, and whether the right to freedom of speech extends to the targeted harassment of an individual by anonymous trolls and the collective effort by powerful, shadowy commercial interests to destroy the reputation of Dr. Wright and Bitcoin itself.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects an individual's ability to communicate with others. And while autism can lead to an individual appearing to be socially awkward, the condition is also associated with higher intelligence.

Cambridge University actually conducted a study some years back that uncovered evidence suggesting that autistic traits are more common among people involved in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, people just like Dr. Craig Wright.

There is also a common myth that people with autism lack “normal” empathy and emotions, and thus become easy prey for those seeking out individuals to pick on via social media platforms such as Twitter.

This is simply not true.  Instead, autistic individuals have a condition known as alexithymia, whereby they encounter difficulties in understanding and processing their own emotions.

The Cambridge study also revealed a particularly strong relationship between autistic traits and problem gambling symptoms.  The study sought to examine clinical characteristics and multiple facets of cognition in young adults who gamble and have autistic traits.

The results were astonishing.

These data suggest a particularly strong relationship between autistic traits and problem gambling symptoms, as well as certain aspects of impulsivity and compulsivity. The link between ADHD and autistic traits in some prior studies may have been attributable to disordered gambling symptoms, which was likely not screened for, and since individuals may endorse ADHD instruments due to other impulsive/compulsive symptom types (eg, gambling). The contribution of autistic traits to the emergence and chronicity of disordered gambling now requires further scrutiny, not only in community samples (such as this) but also in clinical settings.

This particular study was funded by a Center of Excellence grant from The National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG).

Wright has served as an auditor with BDO, with one of his client's being the first bookmaker to ever obtain a license in Australia, Centrebet.

And while Dr. Wright is often cited as a "litigious person" (he won a previous defamation action in England against blogger Peter McCormack over vicious harassment), he is not the plaintiff in this action.

Norwegian law could prove favorable towards Granath as one must be able to show, not only defamatory, but also that such statements were negligently made.

Atkins explains:

A statement which violates the honor or reputation of another will be defamatory. The degree to which a statement is defamatory will depend on the context in which they were made and the cumulative effect of multiple statements all saying the same or highly similar things.

Somebody accused of defamation can argue against liability by arguing that their statements were not unlawful or that the statements were true.

Determining whether the statement was unlawful requires a direct balancing of the infringement of the right to privacy against the right to freedom of speech. This will involve an assessment of whether the statements have any factual basis, the degree of the infringement, and the level of public interest in the statements.

Wright hopes that this trial draws attention to the plight of those with disabilities. 

The trial is expected to conclude on Thursday September 22.

- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com