In Step 3 of our FREE Ten Easy Ways to a Positive Online Reputation Management, we discussed the possibilities of considering legal help to protect your online reputation, particularly against cyberlibel. If you are a victim of being slandered or defamed and have sufficient proof about these allegations then you can consider getting the services of a cyberlibel lawyer to help you. But what is cyberlibel?

Cyberlibel refers to the defamation that occurs in the Internet against a brand, product, person or organization and posted either on messageboards, email, blogs, chatrooms, personal websites and other published online articles. Defamation in its most basic sense is when someone declares or communicates an erroneous and damaging statement publicly or through a third person that results in considerable damage to the defamed individual or organization’s reputation.

In the United States, cyberlibel cases are determined by jurisdiction and the state where the complaint is made. There are many differences in these areas as there are still some disagreements as to whose responsibility should the defamatory comment fall: whether it is the responsibility of the blogger or the subscriber who wrote the comment, or the message board, website owner or the distribution outlet from where the comments or entries were made.

While cyberlibel cases are approached by the courts in a case-to-case basis and while awaiting a more standardized regulation in this area, people or organizations under attack by cyberlibel would need to protect themselves by applying effective internet reputation management. They can do so on their own, although this may be tedious and there is a higher risk for mistakes, or they can work with a reputable online reputation management company to help them in this regard.