3 ms·
TG removing his scores isn't at issue. I don't think there's a court that could order them to reinstate his scores, since it would be the government ordering th
by bhickey 6y ago
TG removing his scores isn't at issue. I don't think there's a court that could order them to reinstate his scores, since it would be the government ordering them to engage in some speech. His claim is that TG called him a cheater.
For purposes of this ruling the judge found that TG's statements were not opinion but were held out as fact. I think TG did themselves no favors in being cagey. They could've easily formulated their statement as an opinion based on disclosed facts. In essence, "I think John is a drunk" may be defamatory because it implies undisclosed facts while "I think John is a drunk because he buys a liter of vodka each week" is an opinion.
- gentleman11 6y agoIn both cases doesn’t the “I think” convey that it is an opinion?
- milkytron 6y agoThis comes down to language, specifically what differs an opinion from a belief. Which is quite complex and I cannot fully wrap my head around it. But here's my take nonetheless. In this case, placing the "I think" would make it a belief. This could also make a statement an opinion, but from what I understand, beliefs have a non-zero chance of being proven or disproven, whereas opinions cannot be proven. "I think gentleman11 is nice username" is a bit different than "I think gentleman11 is a man". Something being "nice" is a bit harder to prove, and possibly impossible without additional context. Thus, it is an opinion. Someone being an man, cheater, alcoholic, etc have the ability to be proven, so it's not as much an opinion as a belief. I'm not a linguist, but I'd be interested in what language specialists have to say on this.
- bhickey 6y agoCouching your language only gets you so far. By disclosing the facts that underpinning an opinion a speaker may enjoy protections over merely implying them.