People are focusing on private Facebook groups, and at the end of the day if things are kept private then what are you going to do? People say and share lots of things in private all the time.
I think if the social media platform and anyone in law enforcement/legal system/lawyers were going to say anything it would be about this
Ingram named him, tagging his username, in a later tweet.
While many applauded her bravery, not everyone agreed social media was the place to name and shame a man over allegations that had not been tested in court.
That's a public accusation and is directed/targeted at the person, not comments within a private Facebook page. Both situations differ from each other.
A lot of this just comes down to 2017+ and a social media generation where vast numbers of people will air their whole personal lives online. Some for nefarious reasons/drama, others because they're crying out for help. A lot of times it's just full on public, and everyone can see it, other times it's private groups. Even with private groups you still have to say to people you're sharing things on a 3rd party service, and be wary that even in a group restricted to a few people, said people still have phones/laptops and what not that other eyes in their lives might end up seeing. The old fashioned way of talking to people face to face still removes a barrier of using a 3rd party service for airing and storing your life.
False accusations and purposeful drama aren't new things, humans have lied and manipulated since we walked the earth. Our law systems are supposed to be there to try and 100% prove guilt before sentencing, but as they're man-made systems they don't always work and yes, victims do get left in positions where aggressors do not see justice. The saying it's better to let 100 criminals go free than to lock up 1 innocent person (or whatever numbers people use) has some merit, but things are never that simple. We have locked up both innocent people, and let off people who you scratch your head at how some high paid lawyer has managed it.
Human beings will be emotional about those facts (upset at perpetrators getting away and upset at innocent people being locked up). Both situations end up ruining lifes, and it's not some competition to say who's life is "more ruined". Injustice is injustice. The legal system isn't supposed to be emotional, but factual and evidence based, but again, it's a man-made system and is operated by man. Therefore, even with the best intentions, emotions end up being involved in court which is unfortunately always going to lead to mistakes.
A tldr here being it's futile to try and tell other human beings they
shouldn't feel empathy, but act disenganged/cold/indifferent
only dealing with facts and evidence. Instantly, nearly anyone hearing "rape accusation", thinks about themselves being raped/someone in their family who was raped. It's understandable. The answer shouldn't be to tell others to drop the empathy, but if those people care about false accusations then there should be pressure on the system to penalise accordingly when it's proven beyond doubt an accusation is false. I don't think I'd say 1:1 with the penalties for actual rape, but people who tell horrendous lies and take them right to the courts/legal action should at times be more liable for further penalties than they face. On the flipside, those getting off with crimes they did commit is a horrendous failing of the system and of an onus of care we are supposed to have for victims.