Defamation Law and Online Reviews: When Can You Sue?
Not every nasty review is defamatory. Here's the legal test in plain English.
By Review Remover Editorial Team
Defamation has four elements in most U.S. jurisdictions: (1) a false statement of fact, (2) published to a third party, (3) with fault (negligence or actual malice for public figures), and (4) causing damages.
Opinion is protected. 'The food was disgusting' is opinion. 'The chef has a criminal record for food poisoning' is a verifiable false statement of fact — that's defamation if untrue.
Section 230 protects the platform, not the reviewer. You can sue the individual reviewer; you generally can't sue Google or Yelp for hosting the review.
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