What is Internet Defamation of Character?

Internet Defamation of Character Law Discussion: What is Defamation of Character?

Welcome to Defamation Law Radio. Internet defamation of character is as easy to perpetuate as a blog post, Facebook update, rating submission, or a forum comment. Your online reputation is measured by the websites return as Google search results. Do you know what people are saying and writing about you?

This is Brian Hall, an internet lawyer with Traverse Legal, PLC, a law firm that specializing in the representation plaintiffs and defendants alike in internet defamation causes of action.  Today, I will be answering the question:  What is internet defamation of character? 

Internet defamation of character is just as it sounds; defamation that occurs online.  And online can be in many places.  It can be on a message board.  It can be on a website that somebody created to be able to post information about another person.  It can be on various websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media places.  Essentially, anywhere that you can post something online would be a spot where internet defamation could occur. 

So, if we’re looking at defamation, in and of itself, there is really two kinds of defamation; libel and slander.  Libel is essentially anything that is written whereas slander is anything that’s spoken.  So, in the internet defamation context, libel might occur where somebody is writing something false about another person on a particular website, message board or social media website, whereas slander might be if somebody posts a YouTube Video or some other spoken representation in an oral sense about another person.

Regardless of whether  or not it’s on the internet, it is critical that a person can establish all claims necessary for defamation.  And those include: (1) a false and defamatory statement about another person, (2) a statement made to a third party or what’s also known as published, so it needs to be out there for others to see and access and. (3) it must be about another person in such a way that it causes damage to that person.  And that damage can be to that persons character, business, whatever it might be. 

An internet defamation attorney can help determine whether or not something amounts to defamation.  An internet defamation attorney can also identify whether  or not it’s libel and slander and, most importantly, oftentimes on the internet it’s difficult to identify who the actual speaker or publisher of the defamatory information is.  And an internet defamation attorney is someone who can track down that information.  It’s not always simple and sometimes requires having to file a lawsuit and getting subpoena power to identify the poster.  However, there are ways to identify information online that an internet attorney can assist you with.

So, regardless of whether or not you have been defamed, when it comes to internet defamation, it is simply that defamation occurring in an online sense.  As an internet attorney, I always recommend that people regularly perform a search of their name via a search engine to see what type of information is out there.  And in the event that there is information that is false made to the public on a website and about you in such a way that can damage your character or your business, you should contact an internet defamation attorney.

This has been Brian Hall, an internet lawyer, answering your question:  What is internet defamation of character?

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