Can you report someone for badmouthing you?

Social media and, in general, the spread of the internet to all areas of life has brought many good things. However, not everything is positive. The best example of this is provided by those who hide behind the anonymity provided by the internet to insult, slander or defame others.

In most cases, these people claim that these are merely opinions and therefore fall within their right to freedom of expression. However, they are wrong. You can indeed sue someone for speaking ill of you.

Defamation in the Penal Code

According to the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), defamation is the action of ‘discrediting another person, either in writing or by word of mouth, by publishing something against their good opinion and reputation’. That is to say, to spread comments that attack his or her reputation.

However, defamation is not directly regulated as a crime in the Penal Code. On the other hand, libel and slander are covered, which are considered as offences against the right to honour that everyone has.

What is an insult?

An insult, according to Article 208 of the Penal Code, is an ‘action or expression that injures the dignity of another person’. For example, the making of insults or vexatious and humiliating comments against another person, undermining their image and reputation.

Insults are not considered serious crimes, unless they are made with knowledge of their falsity, reckless disregard for the truth or by publicising them through some medium, such as a social network. In these cases, Article 209 provides for fines of 6 to 14 months.

What is libel?

We go back to article 205 to talk about the crime of slander. Specifically, the Penal Code defines it as ‘the imputation of a crime made with knowledge of its falsity or reckless disregard for the truth’.

An accusation of slander can lead to a prison sentence of 6 to 24 months and a fine of 12 to 24 months if it is made with publicity. Otherwise, only a fine of 6 to 12 months is envisaged. Obviously, the accused will be exempted from punishment if he can prove that the complainant committed the offence of which he was accused.

In any case, as there are two offences against honour, and as they are quite similar, it is common to report libel and slander at the same time.

How to sue someone for speaking ill of you

The claim for defamation and moral damage, whether motivated by slander or libel (or both), refers to a private offence. Therefore, it can only be denounced by the victim through a criminal complaint, which must be filed with the State Security Forces and Corps (Guardia Civil or National Police, as well as the regional authorities of certain autonomous communities such as Catalonia and the Basque Country) or in the Court of Instruction that corresponds to the plaintiff's domicile.

However, the Criminal Code establishes a prerequisite: the holding of a prior act of conciliation. In fact, the complaint must be accompanied by a document certifying that it took place and that an amicable agreement was not reached.

In addition, defamation complaints can be filed through criminal and/or civil proceedings. In the latter case, the objective will be to obtain compensation to remedy the damage caused by the libel and slander committed by the defendant. It should be noted that, if the defendant apologises, the proceedings will only be interrupted if the complainant accepts his apology, which must be made using the same means as those used to insult or slander him.

In this sense, if the judicial process goes all the way to the end and the judge ends up issuing a conviction, it is possible that he or she will require the guilty party to retract his or her apology. In other words, he or she will not only have to serve his or her sentence, but also publicly explain his or her action and his or her apology.

How to prove a defamation offence?

As with any other type of crime, the complainant must collect as much evidence as possible. We are talking, for example, about screenshots of comments on social networks or conversations in instant messaging applications, audio recordings in which the plaintiff is present so as not to violate the right to privacy, or witness statements.

The problem is that when someone uses social media for the purpose of defaming another person, they often use a pseudonym to hide their identity. In fact, there are many other tools that make it very difficult to determine which person is responsible for the libel or slander that is the subject of the complaint. One need only think of VPNs, which make websites believe that a user is in a country where he or she is not.

At this point, it is clear that you can sue someone for badmouthing you. However, it is not easy to prove in many cases. Especially if the slanderer uses the internet and social networks as a means to spread his slander and libel and protects himself with certain tools capable of guaranteeing his anonymity. In any case, it is essential to have a good lawyer specialising in the right to honour.