Reported defamation cases have risen by 23% in the UK in the last year, from 70 to 86, research by Thomson Reuters has shown. This may be due to a sharp rise in claims regarding social media and websites, since 26 online, text or other new media cases were heard last year. Keith Mathieson, head of media at RPC, says: “Many of the new media cases are taken against the individuals responsible for the publications rather than the companies such as Google or Twitter that host the material.”




