Bulletin board post slanderous not libellous?

Potentially defamatory posts on an investor’s bulletin board were more like slander than libel, a High Court judge has ruled.

And since the test for slander in English law is more rigorous than that for libel because actual financial loss must be proved, potential claimants will have a tougher time winning damages.

In Nigel Smith v Advfn Plc and others, Mr Justice Eady said bulletin board discussions were read by few and often by readers sharing the same interest. Michael Coyle, solicitor advocate at Lawdit Solicitors, says: “The judge commented that when considered in the context of defamation law, therefore, communications of this kind were much more akin to slander than to the usual, more permanent kind of communications found in libel actions.”

Until this case, Coyle says, the perceived wisdom was that that defamatory statements in newsgroup postings, e-mails or on web pages were libellous and that statements made in the course of internet relay chat such as MSN were slanderous.

“However Eady J seems to be suggesting that bulletin board postings should now be treated as slander,” he adds.