Answer:

Postings on message boards and similar places are normally regarded by the courts in the same light as hard copy publications.

This means that if the words are untrue and are likely to damage the reputation of the person or company referred to, then publication will amount to libel and the court may award an injunction to prevent further publication and damages in favour of the person or company libelled.

If publication is merely abusive and not likely to damage reputation, the court will not normally regard those publications as being defamatory and will not assist the person or company referred to.

The difficulty with online publications is that many are anonymous or the writer uses an adopted name rather than their real name.

However, it may be possible to trace the author by obtaining an order for disclosure from the website owner and/or the internet service provider. This can be very expensive as the claimant will normally have to pay their own costs and the costs of the party who is asked to make the disclosures.

Our specialist lawyers can advise you on a more simple way to proceed, if the purpose is merely to remove a damaging publication. Where a publication appears on the web the writer is considered to be the publisher.

However, the person who controls the website and the company who provides the web-hosting service (the ISP) will also be considered to be publishers once they have been notified of the offending publication and asked to remove it. If they fail to do so, they also become liable and proceedings for libel can be brought against either or both of them. In most cases, following a notification and request to take down the publication, the offending message will be promptly removed. However this is not always the case. For example, if Google is notified that they are hosting defamatory matter they will not normally remove the material but will say that they will abide by any order made by the court.

Our libel solicitors can advise on the most appropriate course of action, depending what the person defamed wishes to achieve. If it is rapid removal of the defamatory posting, notice to the website owner and ISP is normally the best way to proceed. If disclosure of the identity of the original publisher is needed, then this may be possible but it is likely to be a costly exercise.