Jersey company Star-Delta fined £4,000 after editing couple's faces onto rats during payment dispute

A Jersey electrical company has been fined £4,000 and given a formal reprimand by the data regulator after a "deliberate campaign to name and shame" a customer and his partner.

This included animating their photos and attaching their faces to the bodies of rats in what the Authority calls "a targeted and deliberate attack".

In November 2023, Jon Peacock, trading as Star-Delta Electrical Services, shared the couple's details on Facebook during a payment dispute for work carried out on the customer's property, an investigation by the Jersey Office of the Information Commissioner has concluded.

The Authority says the first public post included the couple's names and photos, as well as information about the disagreement, and was shared more than 800 times.

It explains that action led others to name the couple's employer, identify their home address and make insulting comments such as calling them "scum" and "rats".

The regulator adds that it informed Star-Delta of a complaint and asked for the original post to be removed whilst enquiries were carried out, but the company initially refused, claiming it was not in control of the page - although information from Facebook's owner Meta later proved that it was.

Instead, the Authority states that between December 2023 and February 2024, Mr Peacock shared more photos and videos of the couple on Facebook "under the guise of low-level banter".

It says many of these pictures were manipulated and posted alongside their names and insults.

The couple told the regulator they had received abusive and harassing messages following the initial post, causing them distress.

The regulator highlights that instead of taking the payment dispute to the Petty Debts Court in the usual way, Star-Delta chose to carry out this campaign.

The investigation also found that Star-Delta was not registered with the Authority, which is illegal under data protection law.

The Authority says it offered the company the chance to respond to these findings and the impact of the proposed fine on its finances, but Star-Delta refused to give any relevant information.

The regulator adds that Star-Delta had the right to appeal but did not do so.

Alongside the fine and reprimand, Star-Delta and Mr Peacock have been ordered not to post about the couple on any social media platforms going forward.

The Authority concludes: "Information should only be used for the purposes for which it was given. It is not acceptable to use that information to publicly shame clients on Facebook as a means of prompting payment or otherwise settling a fee dispute."

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