Section 18 — Publication of statement harmful to reputation

(1)In this Act, “publication of statement harmful to reputation” means the publication of online material that contains or consists of a statement that a reasonable person would conclude is likely to cause to a person (called in this section the victim) —

(a)harm to the reputation of the victim; and

(b)any other additional harm to the victim.

(2)The following apply for the purposes of ascertaining whether online material contains or consists of a statement which bears a particular meaning:

(a)the statement is to be ascertained from a reasonable interpretation of the online material whether wholly or in part, and whether on its own or in the context in which it appears;

(b)there can be more than one reasonable interpretation of the online material;

(c)the statement may be a statement of fact or an opinion, and if a statement of fact, it may be a true or false statement of fact.