Think Before You Tweet: Avoiding Liability In 140 Characters Or Less

Twitter is a publication. No matter how casual or hyperbolic the medium, and no matter whether anyone really takes it seriously (as Courtney Love argued in one of her infamous Twibel lawsuits), your statements have consequences. Before you click that blue icon that says "Tweet," you should mentally clear this checklist.

Are you tweeting a derogatory statement?

You can be sued for defamation if you tweet a derogatory statement of verifiable fact injurious to someone else. Just because you say it's your opinion doesn't end the inquiry. Courts look to whether a reasonable reader would understand the statement as asserting a statement of verifiable fact, i.e. a statement that is capable of being proven true or false. Very generally, publication + derogatory false fact about the plaintiff + harm (actual or per se) = defamation. Avoid derogatory comments. Period. Even as a joke. And don't retweet someone else's, either.