Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-2016
Abstract
These days businesses are at least equally associated with their websites as with their "brick and mortar" stores. Every Fortune 500 company has a website. The use of hyperlinks on websites is commonplace. In fact, adding hyperlinks to a website is a primary method of increasing the website's exposure and thereby traffic through search engine optimization. But what if the hyperlink refers an Internet user to information that is purportedly defamatory or libelous? Is there a Florida cause of action for defamation or libel when a hyperlink refers the Internet user to previously published defamatory or libelous information?
Because no Florida appellate court has squarely addressed this issue, this article summarizes how other federal and state courts have ruled.
Recommended Citation
Donna Eng, Roy E. Fitzgerald III, & Gregory S. Weiss, Online Defamation: Do Hyperlinks Constitute Republication for Florida Defamation and Trade Libel Claims?, 90 Fla. B.J., May 2016, at 58.