# WebSites for Opinons And Liabity

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-for-opinons-and-liabity/61272>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 8, 2001, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-for-opinons-and-liabity/61272 "2001-04-08T20:22:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-for-opinons-and-liabity/61272/1 "2001-04-08T20:22:54Z")

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Is there any liablity for people that run websites that encourage people to post opinions on companies?

I ask as I was ready eComapny and they said many company (while the economy was good) were indifferent to people starting websites critical to them, but now they are going after them.

For instance some ex workers didn’t like ACME so they open [http://www.ihateacme.com](http://www.ihateacme.com) or whatever and they post to a message board like this.

Obviously since in effect they are opinions for the most part, there isn’t a lot they can do, or is there?

What about places like, for instance I work in hotels and they encourage people to review the hotels they stayed in. Some of those reviews will stay forever. For instance if I don’t like the ACME hotel and I say “it’s a dump.” but it is now 7 years later that opinion is still there and may not be valid.

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [April 8, 2001, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/websites-for-opinons-and-liabity/61272/2 "2001-04-08T23:26:41Z")

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Sure, you can get sued if you own websites that have nasty things written on them. they should get a cease & desist order first. It really depends on how the messages are worded.