All of the elements necessary for defamation claims seem to have coalesced on the Internet. There is the ease of posting content, including videos, on blogs and chat sites; the ubiquity of tweets, email, blogs and text messages; the pervasive abandonment of personal privacy; and the ability for almost anyone to quickly set up a website. Internet commentary often is less thought out, less restrained, and more opportunistic than, say, letters to a newspaper used to be, which may make Internet postings more likely to lead to defamatory statements. The wide—nearly universal—accessibility of the Internet and the relative permanence of posted content, combined with the rather litigious environment of today, top off the boiling cauldron.
Indeed, consider that, in only the past few weeks, New York1 and surrounding states2 have seen a plethora of rulings stemming from allegedly defamatory statements that appeared in one form or another on the Internet. Several of the most recent salacious cases offer insight into when a claim will and will not withstand scrutiny.
