ARTICLE · 01 MAY 2015

Defamation and online reviews

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It is important for any keyboard warriors to be mindful of the comments they publish online about certain businesses.

AustraliaLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration

Murray Thornhill

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Online review websites such as TripAdvisor and Urbanspoon often decide for us where the best place to eat is or where best to wash our car. It has become routine for many of us to avoid that guesthouse with the rude manager based solely on Joe Citizen's negative review posted on Hostelworld. In fact, we often don't think twice about the consequences of posting a negative online review.

Flippant online reviewers should be alive to the fact that some negative comments posted online may potentially have very real legal repercussions. One option is for some small businesses to sue malicious punters for defamation.

To make out the defamation claim, the following will need to be established in Court:

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