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Comment by ben_w

17 hours ago

The actual case was literally pursued as a civil offence. "Potentially" is not a useful adjective.

The TLDR I've been given is that it's civil when the prosecution is a non-government entity (private person or company), and when the penalty is an injunction or a fine, and when the standard is "preponderance of the evidence".

Conversely, it's criminal when the prosecution is a government/when the sought penalty is imprisonment, and when the standard is "beyond a reasonable doubt".