Internet libel news stories on Newser

Vicious Small-Town Gossip Gets Online Forum

Matt Cantor — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:47:43 CDT

It’s small-town gossip 2.0: Tiny towns in the Ozarks, Appalachia, and elsewhere are increasingly turning to the Internet for local chatter—and when posts are anonymous, they can get nasty. On sites like Topix.com, cruel rumors get started virtually, and true or not, the fallout can be disastrous....

Food Blogger Jailed for Complaining About Noodles

Kevin Spak — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 10:38:05 CDT

Be careful what you blog about in Taiwan. One woman, identified only as Mrs. Liu, learned that lesson the hard way recently, after she complained on her little-read blog about the Sichuan Flavor Beef Noodle Restaurant in Taichung. The place, she wrote, was full of cockroaches, the owner was a...

Court Finds Google Defamed Sex Offender

Kevin Spak — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 09:32:50 CDT

Apparently Google’s auto-suggest function—you know, the one that tries to guess what you might be searching for as you type—can commit defamation. The Superior Court of Paris has convicted Google of “public slandering of a private individual” after a convicted sex offender discovered that typing his name in...

Facebook 'Suck Sites' Have Their Day in Court

Wesley Oliver — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:20:57 CDT

A lawsuit filed by administrators at an Illinois beauty school may set a precedent regarding so-called “suck sites,” the Chicago Tribune reports. Nicholas Blacconiere, a student at the Salon Professional Academy of Elgin, welcomed classmates to criticize teachers on a Facebook page. After students posted accusations of teacher incompetence and...

Landlord Sues Tenant Over Derogatory Tweet

Nick McMaster — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:00:02 CDT

Twitter enthusiasts may want to watch what they write—a Chicago landlord has sued a tenant for libel after she posted a Tweet complaining about her apartment, the Tribune reports. “Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay,” Amanda Bonnen posted in...

Chiropractor Sues Over Bad Online Review

Rob Quinn — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:02:46 CST

A chiropractor's lawsuit has the potential to break the back of the online business-review industry, reports the San Francisco Chronicl e. The bone-cracker is suing a client who posted a complaint on review site Yelp that suggested he was dishonest with insurance companies. "I think he is trying to scare...

Model Sues Google Over 'Skank' Diss

Rob Quinn — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:56:00 CST

A Vogue model is suing to force Google to unmask a blogger responsible for a slew of catty comments about her. The blog, on a Google-owned site, labels Liskula Cohen "psychotic" and a "skanky" superstar. "We think we have a case," her lawyer told the New York Daily News . "This...