Has Your Reputation Been Damaged? How to Protect Yourself and Why You Don't Need to Prove Harm to File a Claim

1. You can sue for defamation even without proving that any harm occurred-the law explicitly provides for statutory compensation for any defamatory publication that is proven.
2. Publication in a closed WhatsApp group constitutes “publication” for all intents and purposes under the Prohibition of Defamation Law-even if the group includes only ten people.
3. Companies and businesses can also sue for defamation-the law defines “person” as an individual or a corporation.
4. If the publisher acted with intent to harm, the maximum compensation that can be claimed without proving damages is doubled.
5. The mere filing of a defamation claim-and sometimes even a credible threat thereof-often results in removal of the publication and an apology, long before the court renders a decision.

What Constitutes Defamation Under the Law

The Prohibition of Defamation Law, 5725-1965, defines defamation in Section 1 as a matter whose publication is likely to humiliate a person in the eyes of others, make them a target of hatred, contempt, or ridicule, harm their office, business, occupation, or profession, or disgrace them due to acts, conduct, or characteristics attributed to them.

Note the wording: the test is not whether harm actually occurred, but whether the publication is “likely” to cause such harm. A false business review posted online, the spreading of a rumor among clients, and a social media post attributing an act that was not committed-all can meet the definition.

The Powerful Tool: Compensation Without Proving Harm

The traditional difficulty in defamation claims was that damage to reputation is difficult to prove. How many clients were deterred? How much income was lost? In 1998, the law was amended and Section 7A was added, bringing about a significant change: the court may order the defendant to pay the injured party compensation without proof of damage, the basic amount of which stood in the legislation at 50,000 shekels, and with indexation currently stands at approximately 80,000 shekels per publication.

When it is proven that the publication was made with intent to harm, pursuant to Section 7A(c), the maximum compensation is doubled, reaching approximately 160,000 shekels per publication. The Supreme Court clarified in CA 3832/11 Fishbein v. Bombach (published in Nevo) that this amount is merely an upper limit, and above it a higher compensation may be claimed if non-pecuniary damage is proven.

The Supreme Court addressed the purpose of the section in CA 2855/20 John Doe v. Jane Doe (published in Nevo, 2022): a procedural purpose-to facilitate the injured party’s ability to prove their claim; and a deterrent purpose-to discourage defamers from disseminating harmful content in the public sphere.

Defamation Online-What You Need to Know

Social networks, WhatsApp groups, reviews on Google and Facebook-all of these have become arenas where defamation is disseminated easily and rapidly. Several important points to understand:

Distribution affects the amount of compensation. Case law has established that the court takes into account the scope of distribution of the publication when awarding compensation-a post viewed by thousands is fundamentally different from a message sent to ten acquaintances. However, even publication in a closed group may constitute defamation.

Multiple publications. What happens when someone publishes repeatedly? The Supreme Court established in CA 2855/20 three auxiliary tests for the question of whether it is the same defamation (entitling one compensation) or separate publications (entitling separate compensation for each): the time interval between publications, the difference in addressees, and the difference in content.

Companies and businesses can sue. Since Section 1 of the law defines “person” as including a corporation, a business harmed by a false review, the spreading of a damaging rumor, or a publication intended to tarnish its commercial reputation can sue for defamation just as an individual can.

Defenses That May Be Available to the Defendant

Not every criticism that stings constitutes defamation. The law recognizes a series of defenses, the most important of which are:

Truth: The defense requires proof of two cumulative conditions-that what was published was true, and that there was a public interest in the publication. The burden rests on the publisher, not on the injured party. A sincere belief that the matter is true is insufficient-it must be proven with evidence.

Good faith: Legitimate criticism on a matter of public concern, an opinion about a business, or faithful reporting may be protected under the good faith defense. This defense is complex and depends on circumstances, and does not provide blanket immunity.

A warning to the other side of the coin: a defamation claim filed not to protect reputation, but to silence legitimate criticism, may lead to the opposite result. In a case represented by our firm (LC 5060-02-11 Tabakman et al. v. Or City Real Estate Ltd. et al.), a real estate company filed a defamation claim for 2.55 million ₪ against employees who expressed criticism just days after an employee rights claim was filed against it. The court ruled that the criticism expressed by the employees was a legitimate expression of opinion, dismissed the claim, and awarded 250,000 ₪ in costs to condemn the use of legal proceedings as a silencing tool. A defamation claim filed with improper motive does not protect-it exposes.

Why It Is Worth Taking Action and What Is Important to Verify Beforehand

CA 7426/14 Jane Doe v. Daniel (published in Nevo, March 14, 2016) established the principle that awarding compensation in defamation law also serves an educational-deterrent purpose, and examines not only the perspective of the injured party but also the severity of the wrongdoer’s act. Case law shows a wide range of compensation-from judgments of tens of thousands of shekels to judgments of hundreds of thousands.

Before filing a claim, two things are important to verify: First, does the person who published have the financial capacity to bear the compensation-a judgment against someone with no assets is difficult to collect. Second, are there documented evidentiary materials for the publication-screenshots with date stamps, saved links, witnesses. Evidence collected immediately after publication is generally of the highest quality.

Has someone published untrue statements about you that have damaged your reputation or your business? It is advisable to examine what remedies are available to you before the publication continues to spread.

© Tidhar Tzur Law Firm | This article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute individual legal advice.