Penny Sparrow's reputation at stake: expert
It can take 20 years to build a reputation but five minutes to ruin it.
That's according to social media lawyer, Emma Sadlier, who has been commenting on the racist posts on Twitter and Facebook over the weekend. KZN estate agent Penny Sparrow, received a massive backlash over a racist message posted on her Facebook profile.
In the post, Sparrow compared holidaymakers who flock to the province's beaches on New Year's Day to monkeys.
Sadlier says Sparrow's reputation could be ruined in the long-term.
"When people go online they suddenly say and do things that they would never say or do in the real world. This is an extreme example.
"I see it with my friends - when I go on Facebook and see that they have posted something incredibly private that I know they would never say if it was just the two of us in a room.
"When people go online, they think they are entering a different universe. What the law says is that as soon as content has been seen by one other person, then in the eyes of the law it is treated as if you published it on the front page of the newspaper," she said.
(File photo: Getty Images)