Free Speech
Defamation Isn’t Protected by the Constitution
Publicly telling harmful lies about someone is not legal
While it’s true that you can say almost anything that isn’t a direct threat of bodily harm right to somebody’s face with no legal consequences, doing it in public is another story. If you are telling false statements of facts about someone in the public arena, it isn’t protected by the First Amendment. It’s not a hall pass to say terrible things to whoever you want, Scott-free. In fact, your employer has wide latitude to censor your speech, and so does the government in many circumstances, but that’s another story.
The point is, that free speech rights don’t allow you to say anything you want, no matter what, and the people who claim that are usually looking for ways to defend acting like jerks. It’s an important right but not an absolute right.
But back to defamation . . .
Defamation is a tort, and false statements of facts may be seen to damage a person’s reputation — something they can sue you for compensatory damages. While some types of (oral) slander or (written) libel require proving that the defamation was harmful, some forms are seen as so inherently destructive, that no further proof is needed.
