Magaldi and Davis on Examining Online Defamation Law Through the Twitter Account of James Woods

Jessica Magaldi, Pace University, and Wade Davis, Minnesota State University, Mankato, are publishing ‘Into the Bowels of Hell’ Examining Online Defamation Law Through the Twitter Account of James Woods in volume 29 of the Southern Law Journal (Fall 2019). Here is the abstract.

Film actor James Woods is a conservative Twitter personality who uses the platform to provoke and attack celebrities, politicians, commentators, and news media that express liberal and progressive viewpoints – behavior commonly known on the internet as “trolling.” He also has his own trolls. Two lawsuits that stem from incidents on Twitter involving Woods offer an opportunity to explore the ways in which the medium and the law of defamation affect and are affected by one another. This Article analyzes these two lawsuits in an effort to explore the legal nuances and practical realities of asserting a defamation claim arising in a social media context. Section II discusses the factual bases of the lawsuits, their procedural histories, and their resolutions. Section III explores the merits of the defamation claims in both lawsuits by analyzing the elements of a defamation claim as they apply to the facts of each case. Section IV addresses the unique problems that social media defamation litigants face with respect to anonymity, the public figure doctrine, and the actual malice standard. Section V concludes by offering recommendations relating to the law and litigation process, and remedies for social media defamation claims.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.