Slander: Legal Definition, Example, and Difference From Libel

What Is Slander?

To slander is making a false statement about another person or people verbally with the intent to defame the subject of the statements. Slander is a legal term used to describe defamation, or harming the reputation of a person or a business by telling one or more others something both untrue and damaging about them.

Slander can be the basis for a lawsuit but must be proven by the subject in civil court.

Slander is often compared with libel, which is written rather than oral defamation.

How Slander Works

While everyone has a fundamental right to speak their minds freely, freedom of expression is not absolute. Most legal systems set limits on what you can say, especially if what you say is both injurious and false.

Slander represents any form of defamation that is communicated verbally. Defamation occurs when someone’s words cause harm to another person’s reputation or livelihood. A statement must be presented as fact, not opinion, to be considered slander. The statement must be made to a third party.

There are consequences for making statements that you know are untrue. Defamation falls under tort law, which is the branch of law that deals with civil matters. It aims to address wrongdoing against parties and may award them monetary compensation.

Anyone who is the subject of slanderous statements, whether verbal or written, may be able to present their case in civil court. If you are found guilty of committing slander, you could be ordered to pay compensatory damages to the complainant.

Proving Slander

Slander is difficult to prove in court. The burden of proof rests on the complainant.

Aggrieved parties must be able to prove, with a preponderance of evidence, that slanderous statements were made to a third party and that they were made with malice.

Slander vs. Libel

People often confuse slander and libel. The key difference is in the medium. A slanderous statement is made verbally. As such, it is considered temporary since it involves speech rather than being written or published in a lasting form.

Libel is printed or broadcast on television, radio, or online. Although broadcast typically involves spoken words, it is considered libel because it reaches a large audience just as written words do, making it less temporary than ordinary speech.

From a strictly legal perspective, defamatory comments are not considered to be libelous unless they are published. This means even statements made on a blog with very little traffic can be considered libelous.

In the context of internet communications, only a single individual must read the offensive post or comment in question for it to be considered libel.

Imagine writing a blog comment asserting that its author received a dishonorable discharge from the military. If the statement is true, there is no claim of defamation. But you may be guilty of defamation if that claim is false, especially if you made the assertion with the intention of discrediting the author.

The owner of the blog can sue you for damages if they can prove you made the comments maliciously. Keep in mind that the blog’s owner may not care what other people believe even if your claims are false, which renders the assertion not defamatory.

Real-World Examples of Defamation

In modern times, defamation cases tend to focus on accusations of libel rather than slander. The internet and television can magnify a falsehood and its damaging effects to a far greater degree than a verbal statement.

Recent highly publicized defamation cases include:

Johnny Depp v. Amber Heard

In 2022, actor Johnny Depp sued his ex-wife, Amber Heard, for defamation for insinuating in a published article that he had been violent toward her during their marriage. Depp’s lawyers argued that the insinuations were false and that they had caused actual damage to Depp’s reputation. In the end, the jury decided that Heard had defamed Depp but Depp had also defamed Heard in at least one instance. The jury ordered Heard to pay Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, while Depp was ordered to pay Heard $2 million in compensatory damages. In a private agreement between the two parties, the amount Heard owed Depp was reduced to $1 million.

Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News

A manufacturer of voting machines sued Fox News after its television hosts and on-air guests made several statements falsely alleging that its machines were rigged to favor Joe Biden over Donald Trump in the 2020 election. In the discovery phase of the trial, it was found that the claim was false and that Fox News executives and on-air employees knew it at the time. Dominion Voting Systems eventually agreed to an out-of-court settlement with Fox for an astounding $787 million.

David Schwimmer v. Aaron Tonken

This one was a slander case, not a libel case. Actor David Schwimmer filed a $2 million lawsuit against a fundraiser who falsely accused him of making unreasonable demands for appearing at a charity event in 1997. Schwimmer, who appeared on the show “Friends,” filed the defamation suit against then-fundraiser Aaron Tonken.

According to Schwimmer, Tonken publicly stated that Schwimmer demanded two Rolex watches as compensation for the time he devoted to a fundraiser. Schwimmer claimed that the allegations were false and had ruined his reputation.

The lawsuit was settled in 2006. Schwimmer was awarded $400,000 in damages. At the time, Tonken was serving time in prison for an unrelated case involving swindling charities.

The Bottom Line

The First Amendment protects everyone’s right to freedom of speech. But just because the Constitution guarantees that right, it doesn’t mean you can say whatever you like without any consequences. In fact, it is illegal to make statements about someone that you know are blatantly false. This act is referred to as slander.

If the subject of the slander and their reputation suffer because of your actions, you may be taken to court. And you may have to pay monetary damages if the person can prove defamation.

Correction—Aug. 25, 2024: This article was corrected to state that Aaron Tonken, and not David Schwimmer, served time in prison for swindling charities.