Legal liability for blogs

MysticalRain

Does anyone know what the current law is in Ireland for liability in relation to blogs? For example, if a blogger posts a negative review of a particular business, can that business sue the blog owner? does this apply to commenters on a blog as well? What protections do bloggers have in this area? If a blog is hosted outside of Ireland, does that limit liability in any way?

spannerotoole

For example, "I feel/think that boards.ie is wrong because..." You would probably get away with as it is opinion

However "Boards.ie is wrong because..." has a problem as it is presented as fact, if it is not true then it is slander.

It's all down to if it is opinon or fact.

But do be careful in how you phrase your statements. If you don't want to name the company, we could take a phrase such as "A Major Computer retailer that claims to offer suppot and then they didn't know what was wrong." is obviously, well, I'll leave that to your imaginations.
But I guarantee it ends with another word meaning Globally.

(See what I did there, and the company in question can't say anything because they are not specifically mentioned)

In the event of a concert promoter you wouldn't name the promoter themselves, but you would say the concert that you attended and you didn't feel that "The Promoters" were right because someone in their employ said/did.

Hope this helps.

MysticalRain

That approach certainly helps. However, it would mean that you would have to avoid writing about certain things like reviews of products or services.

spannerotoole

Post a sticky that states that all information on this site is to be treated as opinion.