Facebook is set to face prosecution over a naked photograph of a 14-year-old girl posted on its social media platform.

The company had attempted to get out of this legal action. However, its legal bid was rejected by a High Court judge in Belfast. The girl's lawyers claim that the picture was posted online as revenge and used to blackmail her.

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The victim is suing both the Facebook as well as the man who posted the picture. This is most likely the first case of its kind and may set a precedent about the liability of social media sites for the content posted on their platforms. The case rests on the premises of misuse of private information and the breach of the Data Protection Act.

According to the Independent, the girl's lawyers is arguing that Facebook should have taken immediate steps to block the "shame page" where the picture was posted. Facebook, on the other hand, has defended itself saying that the page was taken down after the company was notified about it. After losing its bid to have the case thrown out, Facebook would now face a full trial. The photo is said to have been posted multiple times between November 2014 and January 2016.

The girl's counsel has equated the incident with child abuse. Her lawyers said that Facebook could have prevented the republication of the picture using DNA process of identifying the images. The Mirror reported that Facebook's legal representatives used a European directive in their defense, which provides protection from the need to monitor a large number of online data posted on a page.