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Melanie’s dance studio becomes the target of an internet sniper, an individual who has repeatedly posted ugly and damaging comments about her internet business. Her business has begun to suffer under the weight of these baseless and baseless accusations placed there by a dissatisfied customer. Melanie was in a panic wondering how this man could get away with what she was doing. To respond to this threat, Melanie had to learn the laws surrounding defamation of character.
Defamation is the communication of a false statement that makes a claim, whether stated as fact or implied to be true, that may reflect negatively on a person, company, product, group, government, or nation. There are several forms of defamation. Defamation occurs when someone writes defamatory statements about you. Rather, slander is a defamatory statement that is spoken.
The act of communicating a defamatory written or spoken statement is called “publication” of that statement. Each post is separately actionable, so if someone is running around town bad-mouthing you to their colleagues, potential employers or clients, etc., you can be sued for each statement separately.
To hold someone liable for slander or defamation, you must prove that they made the statement with malicious intent. The court uses the concept of ill intent to determine the state of mind of the speaker/writer. It refers to the intentions of an individual or group to harm another party. It is important to note that some statements have been found by the courts to be so vile that if someone says them about you and if the statement is false, they have no excuse to hide and will be held accountable for their statements. For example, if someone falsely accuses you of having committed a crime or an immoral act (such as lying or cheating on your spouse), having some nasty disease (such as herpes or AIDS), being incompetent in your profession, or dishonest in business, anyone of these false statements is called slander per se, if it is spoken, or libel per se, if it is written. If the statements can be proven to be false, you do not have to prove that the speaker/writer had malicious intent to harm you. If the statements are false, that person will be responsible for the damage caused to their reputation.
Melanie and her attorney sent a cease and desist letter to the writer, who almost identified himself by the comments he posted. Melanie also responded directly online on the website where the offending post was made. Unfortunately, the website sees itself as an unrelated third-party repository performing a public service, and not a publisher of liberal material (and the courts agree). Their policy is to never delete posts.
The cease and desist letter seemed to work and silenced the Internet sniper. No new defamatory statements emerged. He also hired a company dedicated to helping people protect their reputations on the Internet. The company created a series of PR articles and websites, and employed link strategies to boost Melanie’s search engine optimization, essentially burying the offending item on the fourth page of a Google search.
This is the best Melanie can hope for since the post cannot be deleted. Melanie’s experience is a beacon for all of us to be vigilant about damaging statements that may be made about us online, and to respond vigorously and thoroughly in the event of an attack on our reputation.