Recent reports of a Houston restaurant patron being asked to leave after posting an unflattering tweet about the bartender on duty reignited the debate over what constitutes libel and slander in the era of social media. Read the full article here.
But applying current laws to digital media such as Twitter is "extremely difficult, and even more so since this communication phenomenon does not fit nicely into accepted legal standards of libel and slander," according to Peter S. Vogel, co-chair of Gardere's Internet, eCommerce and Technology Industry Team. Cybersmear litigation that has evolved at the courthouse limits liability if there is a grain of truth to the Internet statement, he added. "But until actual cases are brought to court, it's not clear that libel and slander will ever apply to tweets."
Androvett Newswire featured Vogel's commentary.