Question for the Financial Times – 27th January 2009
I run a medium sized marketing agency in Central London. One of our employees has set up a firm profile on a social networking site which contains material and a blog which is detrimental to our practice and reputation. Could you advise me where I stand legally to take action against the employee and also how I can ensure my firm’s profile is unharmed?
For the information on the blog to be actionable by the company, it must not just be to the detriment of the company but it must be defamatory of it. This means that the words published have a tendency to damage the company “in the way of its business”. Examples of this could mean that it would damage the goodwill of the company would tend to indicate that it was insolvent, or that it treated its employees improperly.
But the words complained of must reflect on the company itself as a legal entity, not just on the officers of the company.
Subject to your ability to see off any defences that could be raised (such as the truth of the allegation, you could have a viable claim for libel against the blogger.
One of the first steps to be undertaken is to seek to remove the offending publication.
The best way of removing information on the internet is to write to the Internet Service Provider and ask them to take down the defamatory allegations and remind them of their duty under Section 1 of the Defamation Act 1996 that as an “innocent disseminator” they are protected from any legal action if they respond promptly to the request. If they fail to do so, they incur liability alongside the authot.
Such a request is usually successful of a UK based company but is more difficult if the company is based abroad, particularly in America.
In these circumstances, it may be necessary to find out the address from which the blog was posted. This can be done again through the Internet Service Provider or by a Court Order if necessary. You can then make an approach to the blogger direct to tell them to close down the blog and also apply for damages.
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