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> As for their first point, statements of “pure opinion” are protected by the First Amendment in America. But New Zealand doesn’t have this. Statements of opini

> As for their first point, statements of “pure opinion” are protected by the First Amendment in America. But New Zealand doesn’t have this. Statements of opinion are not categorically protected. Instead, it all comes down to “the honest-opinion defense”. This is the most surprising part of this article to me. Not the NZ one, but the US one. Does this mean you can say whatever you want in the US without risking be labeled libel? What if you're a victim of it (NOT saying in this case, but in general like personally)?

dragonwriter 4y ago
> Does this mean you can say whatever you want in the US without risking be labeled libel? No. The question of whether a claim is of opinion or fact is itself an objective question of fact. “Donald Trump is an evil man” is a opinion claim, and cannot be libel. “Donald Trump murdered his bastard son” is a fact claim and could (potentially) be libel.
- Sparkle-san 4y ago
  Something to note is that the standard for defamation is higher in the US if you're a public figure such as a politician and requires you to prove actual malice. So if someone truly believed that Hillary Clinton was part of a satanic pedophile ring and told others as such, it would be almost impossible to successfully sue them.
  - dllthomas 4y ago
    Though note that the legal use of the term "actual malice" isn't quite what one might expect from the plain English.
cortesoft 4y ago
First amendment rights are pretty sacred here. Generally, yes, you can say whatever you want without LEGAL consequences. For a defamation case to succeed in the US, the accuser has to prove that a statement was made that a reasonable person would interpret as a statement of fact. That means that something like "zuru is the worst place to work in the world!" would not put the person at risk of losing a defamation case, because "worst place in the world" is subjective, and no reasonable person would think it is an objective fact. If they said something like "zuru management ate my babies!".... well, that still wouldn't get them in trouble because it is so obviously not true that no reasonable person would think it was a statement of fact. If they said, "zuru didn't pay me my last paycheck," well then you might be at risk for defamation if it turns out they did actually pay you (the truth is always an absolute defense in the US, so you can't get in trouble for saying something that is true) Now, even if it wasn't true, the accuser still has to prove that the person either KNEW it wasn't true, or completely disregarded whether it was true or not when they made the statement. It is hard to get someone in trouble for what they write or say in the US.

dragonwriter 4y ago

> Does this mean you can say whatever you want in the US without risking be labeled libel? No. The question of whether a claim is of opinion or fact is itself an objective question of fact. “Donald Trump is an evil man” is a opinion claim, and cannot be libel. “Donald Trump murdered his bastard son” is a fact claim and could (potentially) be libel.

Sparkle-san 4y ago
Something to note is that the standard for defamation is higher in the US if you're a public figure such as a politician and requires you to prove actual malice. So if someone truly believed that Hillary Clinton was part of a satanic pedophile ring and told others as such, it would be almost impossible to successfully sue them.
- dllthomas 4y ago
  Though note that the legal use of the term "actual malice" isn't quite what one might expect from the plain English.

cortesoft 4y ago

First amendment rights are pretty sacred here. Generally, yes, you can say whatever you want without LEGAL consequences. For a defamation case to succeed in the US, the accuser has to prove that a statement was made that a reasonable person would interpret as a statement of fact. That means that something like "zuru is the worst place to work in the world!" would not put the person at risk of losing a defamation case, because "worst place in the world" is subjective, and no reasonable person would think it is an objective fact. If they said something like "zuru management ate my babies!".... well, that still wouldn't get them in trouble because it is so obviously not true that no reasonable person would think it was a statement of fact. If they said, "zuru didn't pay me my last paycheck," well then you might be at risk for defamation if it turns out they did actually pay you (the truth is always an absolute defense in the US, so you can't get in trouble for saying something that is true) Now, even if it wasn't true, the accuser still has to prove that the person either KNEW it wasn't true, or completely disregarded whether it was true or not when they made the statement. It is hard to get someone in trouble for what they write or say in the US.