With
"serious harm" a required evidence for any type of libel case, the
UK's Defamation Act of 2013 had the number of cases drop by 30 per cent this
year alone.
Thomson-Reuters
reports that the number of defamation cases in the United Kingdom had fallen to
63 from 86 cases, which many argue is the lowest level it had reached in the
last six years.
The
new libel laws acted as a foil against trivial libel cases that allowed
anybody, especially prominent UK figures, the ability to file libel against
small criticisms done mostly by columnists and journalists.
“The
new act offers stronger protections to those accused of making defamatory
statements,” said Harry Kinmonth, a senior associate in the media team at City
law firm RPC. “Fewer trivial defamation cases are now making it to court as a
result, and claimants are looking to bring alternative causes of action.”
Social Media Defamation On The Rise
Despite
the law, social media defamation continues to rise.
According
to Thomson-Reuters' Practical Law Service contributor Harry Kinmonth:
“Someone
is far more likely to find themselves the subject of online postings than of
stories in the more traditional media. And there is the perception that such
postings risk being shared widely and at speed. As a result, claimants view the
potential for damage to be high.”
Kinmonth
added that social media usually focuses on individuals who post the erroneous
or libellous information and not the social network itself.
