In a world where a single Facebook rant or Yelp review can reach thousands of readers, an individual’s power of speech is arguably greater than ever. But when that speech has the power to destroy someone’s business, how free should it be?
Though the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, business owners also have the right to sue for defamation or libel if they feel someone has knowingly lied about their business.
Activists and bloggers expressing concerns about the environmental practices of some companies have been hit with multi-million-dollar defamation suits.
For example, four residents in Uniontown, Alabama, are being sued for comments they made on Facebook about a local landfill. The company that operates the landfill is claiming $30 million in damages to its business.
The highest court in Massachusetts heard arguments in a similar case on Oct. 7. Karen Savage and Cherri Foytlin wrote a blog post in 2013 alleging that scientific consulting company ChemRisk had oil industry ties. They had thus called into question a ChemRisk study that declared cleanup workers at the Deepwater Horizon oil spill site were not exposed to harmful airborne chemicals.
In both cases—and hundreds of others popping up around the country every year—the defendants say the lawsuits were just meant to scare them into retracting their statements and discourage others from speaking out.
