Social Media Slander Laws In Texas
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A local social host ordinance is a local law that holds adults liable for underage drinking on their property and/or for providing alcohol to minors. Communities across the country have begun to pass such ordinances to ensure the health and safety of youth.
To prove a successful defamation claim, the plaintiff must show the following: (1) the defendant published a false statement; (2) that defamed the plaintiff; (3) with the requisite degree of fault regarding the statement's truth; and (4) damages, unless the statement constitutes defamation per se.
The SCOPE Act essentially places restrictions on Texas internet users younger than 18. Under the SCOPE Act as passed, social media sites and other websites must require users to register their age, and minors are prohibited from making purchases on those sites.
Defamation of character is when someone spreads lies about you and taints your reputation. Texas law lets you seek compensation for this. If you can show that their untrue statements caused you harm, you might be able to take legal action against the individual or company responsible.
The law prohibits social media platforms from "censoring on the basis of user viewpoint, user expression, or the ability of a user to receive the expression of others", or on the basis of a user's geographic location in Texas. This includes removal or labeling posts with warnings and disclaimers.
In 2021, the Texas Legislature passed Texas House Bill 20, a law that bars social media platforms like Facebook, X, and WhatsApp from banning, censoring, or manually demoting accounts within a social media platform's algorithm so that fewer people see their content based on what those accounts have posted (de-boosting) ...
In 2023, the state of Texas passed a law, HB 1181, that would require websites with more than one-third of content that is “sexual material harmful to minors” to use “reasonable age verification methods” to verify that an individual attempting to access the material is of 18 years or older.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit remanded Texas' social media content regulation case to the trial court. The Fifth Circuit following guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court and instructed the trial court on how to proceed. The 2021 Texas law's intent is to restrict social media companies from censoring political speech.
Sec. 16.002. ONE-YEAR LIMITATIONS PERIOD. (a) A person must bring suit for malicious prosecution, libel, slander, or breach of promise of marriage not later than one year after the day the cause of action accrues.
Written defamation is called "libel," and spoken defamation is considered "slander," and they both fall under "defamation." In the US, defamation is not usually a crime. Instead, it is a "tort" or civil wrong. Under the law, a person who has been defamed can seek damages from the perpetrator.
