Cyber-libel, comment threads, social media

Since the Supreme Court declared cyber-libel constitutional, social media and the Internet have become rife with libel scares and threats. It truly is like waiting for another shoe to drop as we wait in fear of the sensitive and defensive government official who’s out to make a point.

But what we rarely discuss vis-a-vis cyber-libel is how it can be used by private individuals (i.e., non-politicians) who are faced with Internet opinion and comment sections out-of-control. I’ve fallen victim to libelous and defamatory assertions on the comment section of this space online; I’ve learned to ignore these because half the time these come from anonymous users, and most of the other half are trolls.