Comparison between Different Countries

Conceptual Framework

US
Freedom of speech is highly protected in the United States by the spirit of the First Amendment. When dealing with defamation lawsuits, the U.S. court differentiates the allegation of facts and allegation of opinion. Allegation of opinion, which means the author only expresses his/her own evaluation on the nature, meaning and values of an incident that already happened, is definitely protected by "Privilege to Opinion" regarding to the First Amendment, in which the concept of true or false does not exist.

Based on this conceptual framework, the U.S. Congress must carefully balance the law of defamation and the freedom of speech. Media which express opinion on public officials have privilege when facing suits of defamation. No matter offline or online, the U.S. legal system does the most to protect the "free" environment.

UK
The UK libel law is somewhat different from the US libel law in view of its approach to the burden of proof. The UK law puts the burden of proof upon the defendant to show that he / she did not commit libel, which is opposite of the UK law that places the burden on the plaintiff to show that the alleged libelous statement did contain actual malice and did cause damages.

The UK takes the view that regulation is necessary at the boundary between freedom of speech and defamation. In addition, the position in the UK can be contrasted with the stricter position being taken by the UK in relation to disclosing the anonymity of defendants. Freedom of speech remains a very sensitive area for legal regulation.