Comparison between Different Countries

The Issue of Jurisdiction

US
In the result of growth and globalization of Internet, there are more concerns on the increased possibility of U.S. media companies or ISPs being sued for defamation in foreign jurisdictions. This phenomenon is particularly troubling in U.S. because most foreign jurisdictions provide lesser protection to the ISP, or say, in the eye of American, lesser protection to the freedom of speech than the U.S. law. This makes libel claims substantially easier in many foreign jurisdictions than in the U.S.

The problem of foreign online defamation liability is more important for those U.S. media companies or ISPs which maintain substantial business and assets abroad. These companies may be forced to conform with the standards and laws of the foreign jurisdictions, even to some least speech-protective countries in the American's perspectives, such as China.

However, the U.S. courts have done the most effort to prevent such situations. In order to avoid foreign online defamation judgments that might contravene the spirit of the First Amendment, the U.S. courts will not enforce any foreign libel judgments inconsistent with the First Amendment. Though U.S. courts generally enforce foreign-money judgments under principles of comity, they are not required to do so where such judgments conflicts with U.S. law (Wimmer & Berman, 1999).

UK
The place of publication i.e. the place where material is read, heard or seen, is the very heart of the cause of action for defamation. The fact of publication within the jurisdiction of the court is also highly relevant. Matters include whether the plaintiff has a reputation to protect in the UK, whether the plaintiff's claim is limited to publications occurring in the UK, the extent to which publications occurred in other countries in which the plaintiff has a substantial reputation, and the location of the parties and witnesses.

It appears that where material is published by a foreign defendant to a global audience via the Internet, plaintiffs will generally be able to sue in the UK if the material is published in the UK and the harm is suffered in the UK, provided that there is evidence that the plaintiffs have reputations worthy of protection in the UK. The proceedings will likely be allowed to continue in the UK where either or both of the involving parties reside elsewhere other than the UK. The case of Bevezovsky v. Michaels is an example.