 It was important because it was seen as the first UK internet libel case that represented two individuals rather than one party being an Internet Service Provider, and was the first British case involving a successful prosecution of an individual poster within a chat room.The "Manchester Evening News" claimed that this contradicted a common assumption among bloggers that it was the publisher and not the writer who was responsible for any libel claims that they may generate.Mark Stephens, the head of media law at Stephens Finer Innocent, characterised the case as "a dark day for freedom of speech with broad implications", which was denied by the plaintiff Michael Keith Smith.