Defamation policy

The law: Defamation is defined as a false published statement, which exposes a living person to hatred or ridicule, or which causes him/her to be shunned or avoided, or which may injure him/her in his/her trade. A statement is not likely to be considered defamatory unless its publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the reputation of the claimant, unlike mere parody or irreverent criticism. A statement will also not be considered defamatory under the following circumstances:

1. Justification - the publication was true or mostly true; or
2. Fair comment - the publication is an honestly held opinion, which must be based on facts that are true or mostly true.

Stockopedia’s policy: Stockopedia is a community website and, while we encourage certain rules of etiquette and posting guidelines, we will not take responsibility for potentially defamatory comments posted by our site members. If you believe you've been impacted by a potentially defamatory statement, we encourage you to try to resolve this directly with the poster in question. In our experience, these matters are usually resolved amicably through sensible adult discussion. However, if you are unable to resolve it this way, you can send us an official Notice of Complaint via the support [at] stockopedia.com email address. This must contain the following information:

1. Your name and the e-mail address at which you can be contacted
2. Where on the website the statement complained of was posted
3. What the statement complained of says and why it is defamatory of you
4. What meaning you attribute to the statement complained of
5. The aspects of the statement which you believe are factually inaccurate or opinions not supported by fact
6. Confirmation that you do not have sufficient information about the person who posted the statement to bring direct proceedings
7. Confirmation as to whether you consent to your name and/or email address being provided to the poster

If we receive a valid Notice like this, then, in accordance with Section 5 of the Defamation Act 2013, we will forward it to the poster in question and ask them to review the original posting in light of it. In the event that they decide not to remove the posting, that's their prerogative but we will ask them to provide their full name and postal address so that they are directly contactable by the courts in the event that the matter is then pursued further through litigation.