FACEBOOK was "indifferent" to the fate of a convicted child abuser featured on a page set up to name and shame paedophiles in Northern Ireland, a court has heard.
Counsel for the sex offender awarded £20,000 damages over his exposure on the social network claimed attempts to get the details removed were not properly dealt with.
Both Facebook and page operator Joe McCloskey are challenging a verdict that they were jointly liable to the man, identified only as CG.
Judgment was reserved following two days of argument at the Court of Appeal in Belfast.
Mr McCloskey, from Limavady, failed to turn up for the hearing amid uncertainty over his legal aid status.
He was sued along with the social media giant after CG's photograph and details appeared on the page 'Keeping Our Kids Safe From Predators 2'.
In a landmark ruling last year the High Court held both defendants liable for misusing private information and ordered the pay-out.
The sex offender, a man in his 40s, who brought the privacy action was released from jail in 2012 after serving a sentence for gross indecency and indecent assault offences against a young girl and a teenage boy.
He made wide-ranging claims of harassment, violation of his right to privacy and breaches of the Data Protection Act.
The page featured a string of abusive comments and information on his location. One user called for him to be hung while others endorsed shooting or castrating him.
In evidence CG also claimed he has been threatened with being thrown off a pier during a fishing trip, hounded out of a cinema and had to use a supermarket trolley to fight off another tormentor.
His lawyers argued that the campaign had reached the level of dangerous vigilantism.
Ruling in favour of CG's right to privacy, the High Court awarded damages in the total sum of £20,000, with Mr McCloskey liable for £15,000 of that amount.
Since the verdict two of CG's victims have issued writs against him. An injunction was also secured to stop any payout to the sex offender until that litigation is dealt with.
Counsel for Facebook yesterday challenged the finding that it was liable for misuse of private information.
Central to the appeal was the status of notification letters issued by CG's lawyers in a bid to have the postings removed.
Antony White QC, for Facebook, contended that there was a failure to properly identify the unlawful material.
But Hugh Tomlinson QC, representing CG, challenged the social network response.
"Facebook were really indifferent to the fate of the plaintiff," he claimed.
"They know this was a page being used for this purpose and they actually never responded to the letters from the solicitors."
Following submissions Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan pledged to deliver judgment as soon as possible.
