Online defamation: why it is everywhere, why so few people fight back, and how to set the record straight

Defamation used to be a problem you had with a newspaper, a broadcaster, or a publisher. Now it is a problem you have with a stranger on a review site, a former friend in a Facebook group, an anonymous account, or a competitor who posted something they cannot back up. False statements about people and businesses are made online all of the time. In a 2020 Pew Research Center survey, 41 percent of American adults said they had personally experienced some form of online harassment. Not all of that is defamation, but a lot of what damages reputations online starts there.

Why it used to be different

For most of the last century, a defamatory statement that reached a wide audience usually went through an institution: a newspaper, a magazine, a station, a book publisher. Those institutions had editors and lawyers who checked facts before publishing. They also had insurance and assets. If they got it wrong and harmed someone, the person had a defendant who could pay, and the realistic chance of a recovery made it possible to bring a claim.

That structure is mostly gone for online speech. Federal law, section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, generally shields websites and platforms from liability for what their users post. The platform can take a post down, but you usually cannot sue it for hosting the post. The person you can sue is the individual who wrote it.

Why so few people fight back

• Collecting money is often like milking a rock. Many individual posters have no insurance that covers it and few assets to collect. Even a strong case can end with a judgment that is hard to turn into a check.
• Anonymous accounts. When the poster hides behind a screen name, identifying them takes legal process, such as a request for pre-suit discovery or a subpoena to the platform, and courts protect anonymous speech unless there is a real showing of a claim.
• Legal fees. Traditional hourly litigation is expensive, and the fee meter runs whether or not there is anything to collect.
• Fee risk under Texas’s anti-SLAPP law. A person sued over a communication can move to dismiss early under the Texas Citizens Participation Act. The person suing must then bring clear and specific evidence of each element of the claim, and if the case is dismissed, the court must award the defendant attorney’s fees. A weak or poorly prepared case can cost the person who was harmed.
• A short deadline. A defamation claim in Texas generally must be filed within one year.

Put together, these push most people to do nothing. The false statement stays up, keeps showing up in search results, and keeps doing damage.

What defamation is, and what it is not

In Texas, defamation is generally a false statement of fact, published to someone other than the person it is about, that is defamatory and concerns that person, made with the required degree of fault, and causing damage, although some statements are serious enough that damage is presumed. Private individuals generally must show the speaker was at least negligent about the truth; public figures must show the speaker knew it was false or recklessly disregarded the truth.

Just as important is what it is not:

• Opinion and insults. “Worst service ever” is an opinion. “They charged my card twice and kept the money” is a statement of fact that is either true or false.
• Truth. A true statement is not defamation, however painful.
• Honest reviews. Customers have a right to post truthful reviews, and federal law limits a business’s ability to gag them by contract. On the other side, the FTC’s 2024 rule prohibits fake reviews, including reviews by people who never used the business.

Setting the record straight usually starts without a lawsuit

The goal for most people is not a large verdict. It is the truth, back on the record, and the false statement gone. That is often achievable at a cost that makes sense:

1. Preserve the evidence now. Capture the post with its URL, date, account, and the comments around it, before it is edited or deleted.
2. A clear assessment. Which statements are facts, which are opinions, what can be proven false, who said it, and what the deadline is.
3. A formal request for correction. Texas’s Defamation Mitigation Act expects a written request for a correction, clarification, or retraction, identifying the statement and why it is false. A request made within 90 days of learning of the statement also preserves the right to seek exemplary damages. A well-written request from a lawyer is often enough on its own.
4. Platform takedowns. Most platforms prohibit false statements, impersonation, and fake reviews in their terms of service. A documented, specific report is far more effective than clicking “report.”
5. Unmasking, when needed. Texas allows depositions before suit in some circumstances, and subpoenas can identify the person behind an account.
6. A lawsuit, when it is worth it. When a case is filed and won, a Texas court may order statements adjudicated defamatory to be removed, and a judgment that a statement is false can be powerful on its own, even when money is hard to collect.

How the firm can help

Crawford Law helps people and small businesses respond when they have been defamed. Work is quoted up front in fixed blocks of time at $400 an hour, so you can decide step by step: an assessment, a correction request, a takedown package, and only then, if it makes sense, litigation. Nothing here promises a retraction, a takedown, or damages, and the firm will tell you plainly when a statement is opinion, or when a case is not worth what it would cost. The firm serves the Greater Austin Metro.

The firm also helps the other side: if you have been accused of defamation for something you said or wrote, the same analysis applies, and the anti-SLAPP motion has a short deadline. See the defamation practice, or start with a free call.