Slander on Facebook, can I sue?

[martianman]

Jurisdiction

Colorado

I have a Facebook account and have been harassed by people in the past. I unfriended some of them so they are no longer my Facebook friends. But I can see their posts because they are friends of my friends. One of them wrote that I am a womanizer and have slept with lots of young girls in a certain neighborhood. This is not true at all. It is very damaging to me and my reputation and I am sure that there will be people who will believe it. Can I sue this awful person? What do you think I should do?

I have a Facebook account and have been harassed by people in the past. I unfriended some of them so they are no longer my Facebook friends. But I can see their posts because they are friends of my friends. One of them wrote that I am a womanizer and have slept with lots of young girls in a certain neighborhood. This is not true at all. It is very damaging to me and my reputation and I am sure that there will be people who will believe it. Can I sue this awful person? What do you think I should do?

 

[KatDini]

Block those 'awful' people and you won't see their posts anymore.

 

[adjusterjack]

Duplicate post. See:

Slander on Facebook, can I sue?

 

[adjusterjack]

It is very damaging to me and my reputation

How?

Are you just laughed at by other stupid people who inhabit social media? Or did you lose your job and get arrested?

If just the former, you've got nothing to sue for and I agree with KatDini's suggestion that you just block them or stay off Facebook altogether.

I am sure that there will be people who will believe it.

Have you such low self esteem that you actually care what people on Facebook think?

It's the equivalent of children taunting each other in the school yard.

Can I sue this awful person?

Sure. Anybody can sue anybody for anything.

 

[army judge]

Duplicate post. See:

Slander on Facebook, can I sue?

Please don't alert mods to duplicate posts.
We will eventually see the posts and correct the situation.
Thank you.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Please don't alert mods to duplicate posts.

Thanks for the report, @adjusterjack - seen in the "reported" control panel and apparently fixed.

One of them wrote that I am a womanizer and have slept with lots of young girls in a certain neighborhood. This is not true at all. It is very damaging to me and my reputation and I am sure that there will be people who will believe it. Can I sue this awful person? What do you think I should do?

Yes, you can sue that person for libel - which refers to false statements that are written (not slander, which is oral.) But this is typically a good law school exam question. Question - how much is it worth to you? Are you a pastor and may lose your job as a result? If so, that might be a different situation. But for the overwhelming majority of circumstances, the actual damages of this type of defamation isn't worth suing. You may be better to take the high road and, if you wish, report it to Facebook as a violation of their terms of use and let Facebook police the other users. If they should suspend the other user's account, some may consider that even more devastating than an actual lawsuit.

 

[adjusterjack]

Please don't alert mods to duplicate posts.
We will eventually see the posts and correct the situation.
Thank you.

You've said that before. But if they aren't jumped on right away there's a tendency for annoying parallel discussions. And since I just got thanked for the report, it seems to be a reasonable practice.