On The Infringement Of Individual Reputation Right In Group Defamation

The typical cases of group defamation reflect the controversial definition of group defamation,the divergent paths of remedy for individuals’ right to reputation in group defamation,the urgent need to unify the criteria for determining that group defamation establishes the infringement of individuals’ right to reputation,and the gap in research on the boundaries of tort law for group commentary.On the definition of group defamation,both the specific type view and the specific structure view do not justify the limitation of the scope of the group in group defamation,and individuals in the group cannot effectively remedy their right to reputation when the group outside the limitation is defamed.Group defamation should be defined as a derogatory act committed against a collection of natural persons who share common attributes.The four characteristics of group defamation are that the members of the group share common attributes,that the defamation is directed at the group as a whole,that the statements expressed by the perpetrator are defamatory in nature and that the defamation is likely to infringe on the natural person’s right to reputation.The scope of the public interest litigation is to harm the public interest of the society.The public interest refers to the interest of the unspecified majority of people,and group defamation damages the interest of the specified majority of people or the common interest of the majority of people,which is not an act that damages the interest of the unspecified majority of people,and at the same time,group defamation does not require public interest litigation to fill the civil liability gap.Defamation should not be used as a remedy for the right to reputation through public interest litigation.The group defamation claim is contradictory to the theory of the construction of the civil law subject,and the communitarian view of the subject does not provide theoretical support for the group defamation claim.Group defamation is a direct infringement of individual rights,and claiming infringement in the name of an individual is in line with the rule of standing and is compatible with the representative action system.On the issue of the criteria for determining the infringement of individual rights of reputation by group defamation,there are currently criteria for determining the specificity of group members,criteria for determining the specificity of people,criteria for determining the small size of the group and criteria for determining the multi-factor consideration.The criteria of specific group membership is contrary to the principle of lower social evaluation,the boundaries of the criterion of pointing to specific persons are not clear enough,the boundaries of the criterion of small group size are too absolute,and the balance of the criterion of multi-factor consideration is too subjective.One of the criteria for determining that a group defamation is a violation of the right to personal reputation is that the members of the group can be listed in full,in the sense that the general public in the area where the group is located can list all the members of the group,and that the criterion of listing in full is in line with the principle of social devaluation and fully protects the right to reputation of the members of the group.The second criterion for determining the infringement of the right to reputation of an individual is the prominence of the individual in the group,which means that the existence of a landmark event makes a member of the group have strong social recognition.The tort law boundary of group commentary should be drawn by reconstructing the defence of truthfulness with all members being true,the defence of honest opinion with reasonable inferences,the defence of direct application of the public interest purpose and the defence of special construction of direction.