Till date we had numerous cases of posting (~ publishing) defamatory statements in the internet, mostly in discussion boards (forums), groups, wiki, weblogs, etc. In other words majority of these websites are open participatory communities moderated by volunteers and so no one really stops someone posting or re-posting defamatory statements. Many well-established sites have also used this as a handy way of getting mileage by publishing press releases, articles, etc. in support of the ‘defamatory statements’. And why not if the statements are not at all defamatory in nature. And think of this .. is it at all possible to moderate hundreds and thousands of discussions everyday? The main headache starts when someone really posts something which is truely defamatory or spammy in nature. What the site administrators may do in these cases is remove the postings and issue a warning via email, ban the member from the board, block user ip address. If they do not take prompt actions, lawsuits are filed against the website administrators and the matter gets settled in the court.
What if someone ‘re-posts’ something which is defamatory?
In a recent ruling the California Supreme Court stated that .. “bloggers and participants in Internet bulletin board groups cannot be sued for posting defamatory statements made by others”. This is of some relief to these websites as they need not worry about the re-postings of defamatory statements by numerous visitors and await letters from law firms. So if someone republishes something, which is considered defamatory he, or she cannot be sued i.e. they shall remain immune from suit under a section of the federal Communications Decency Act, passed by Congress in 1966. The court also said this kind of immunity “has some troubling consequences” .. “Until Congress chooses to revise the settled law in this area”. So if you feel you are defamed by someone in the Internet you can “seek recovery only from the original source of the statement, not from those who re-post it.”
Source: Calif. court says bloggers can’t be sued
