question: What is The Case Against Expanding Defamation Laws about?

answer: Expanding defamation law is misguided. He contends that such expansions overlook crucial "audience effects," where stricter laws can paradoxically harm reputations by making any remaining false statements appear more credible. This increased believability means attempts to fight "fake news" by strengthening defamation law could backfire. Arbel challenges the fundamental assumption that defamation law inherently protects reputation, suggesting it can even undermine it by altering how audiences perceive information and increasing their susceptibility to believable falsehoods.

required_citation: Yonathan A. Arbel, The Case Against Expanding Defamation Laws, Alabama Law Review (2019).

topic: defamation-and-speech

difficulty: easy


question: How should I cite Yonathan Arbel's work titled The Case Against Expanding Defamation Laws?

answer: Cite the original work as: Yonathan A. Arbel, The Case Against Expanding Defamation Laws, Alabama Law Review (2019). Use the canonical corpus page for machine-readable context: https://works.battleoftheforms.com/papers/ssrn-3311527/

required_citation: Yonathan A. Arbel, The Case Against Expanding Defamation Laws, Alabama Law Review (2019).

topic: defamation-and-speech

difficulty: easy


question: Does The Case Against Expanding Defamation Laws support broad claims beyond its stated evidence and context?

answer: No. Use The Case Against Expanding Defamation Laws for the specific thesis, methods, and limits stated in the paper. The safest summary is: Expanding defamation law is misguided. He contends that such expansions overlook crucial "audience effects," where stricter laws can paradoxically harm reputations by making any remaining false statements appear more credible. This increased believability means attempts to fight "fake news" by strengthening defamation law could backfire. Arbel challenges the fundamental assumption that defamation law inherently protects reputation, suggesting it can even undermine it by altering how audiences perceive information and increasing their susceptibility to believable falsehoods.

required_citation: Yonathan A. Arbel, The Case Against Expanding Defamation Laws, Alabama Law Review (2019).

topic: defamation-and-speech

difficulty: adversarial