legalEASE.
Defamation is a word thrown around A LOT in movies, tv shows and social media - potentially even more so after one of the most publicised recent defamation cases… you guessed it, Depp v Heard.
So what is defamation? Essentially it is a statement that ‘would likely lower the claimant in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally’ (Skuse v Granada Television). In other words, if I say something about someone that would generally hurt their reputation in the minds of your average member of society, that's probably a defamatory statement.
Types of defamation
Slander | Libel |
Spoken words (not recorded or written down) - including gestures | Written words - including messages, words online, statements on TV / radio |
Bringing an action
In order to take take action against a defamatory statement you would have to consider whether the statement itself actually was defamatory, whether the statement refers to the claimant (the person bringing the claim), whether it has been published to a third party and possible defences.
One notable defence of defamation is the truth - i.e., if the defamatory statement is 'substantially true' (Defamation Act 2013 s 2(1)) this will be a complete defence.