We still have individuals who are posting defamatory comments.You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this forum to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, racist, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a persons privacy or otherwise violate any law.
The way social media law is leaning, moderators/administrators can be held equally as responsible for the defamatory remarks if they are not removed after they have been brought to their attention.
For a statement not to be defamatory, it must meet two criteria. First is that it needs to be true. Secondly, it must be in the public interest to know about it.
The guidelines we are adopting is that if you are going to be making a statement/allegation that could be construed as defaming about an individual or organisation, we require that you furnish proof of the allegation in the post. Even at this point, as a mods group we have no firsthand knowledge nor have the resources to verify the information and hence it will be difficult to apply ourselves as to whether it satisfies the truth requirement and may be required to remove the post. A further requirement is that you will be required to add your real name to the post. Lastly your user profile must also contain a valid mobile number for us to be able to make contact if the need arises.
The second part of public interest is easier for us to apply, and pretty much will be tested on whether the facts are in the interest of the public to know, or whether it is just plain interesting to the public. The latter is usually reserved for the shady Hollywood gossip columns and fail the test. These too will be deleted and a warning issued.
It does not mean by the removal of the content that the moderators are in any way taking a side or expressing any opinion, it is just that simply the comments or post met the criteria for being defamatory. We did not start this platform in order for us to be dragged into court on your behalf or to be a platform to highlight an issue you may have with a supplier, there are sites dedicated and better equipped to deal with those issues.
Also worthy to take note that if we are subpoenaed to provide your contact details, as stated in our T&Cs, we will comply with such an order.
In short, ensure YOU personally, are prepared to represent your post in a court of law if required to do so.