What Can Be Done If Your Reputation Has Been Attacked

A reputation is hard to win and easy to lose.  Information travels fast, there is now a situation which has been created where, to paraphrase Shakespeare, information can go around the world in forty minutes.  The span and online presence of social media, as well as the traditional media outlets, can mean that an individual or organisation's reputation can be fatally damaged on a global scale in 24 hours.  The internet search engines ensure that the defamatory posts, not only can be accessed by a click but may remain accessible for years. Whilst there is a slowly awakening understanding of the harm malicious falsehoods can deliver to an individual's mental health, the internet giants such as Facebook are often slow to re-act citing freedom of speech as the shield against their lack of action. The underlying opposing principles in any defamation case are the rights of reputation and freedom of expression.