ONLINE DEFAMATION

1. it is illegal and under the Australian law, it doesn't matter how you do it. It is still defamatory if you can quickly delete it because people can still view it

2. Defamatory materials can be novels, paintings, poems, cartoons and songs

3. For a case to go on in court, a number of documents need to be produced. One must be material that has been published to someone other than the prosecutor

3.1. cannot be directly sent in a private message, because that does not impact their reputation

4. Fine line between satire and defamation

4.1. it has to have 'significant damage' to a person's reputation, and if they are a public figure, malice must be proved

5. a false and unprivileged statement of fact that is harmful to someone's reputation, published 'with fault'

5.1. as a result of negligence or malice

6. state laws explain defamation in two ways

6.1. libel is written defamation

6.2. slander is spoken defamation