Defamation Expert Witness Qualifications

Defamation Expert Witness Qualifications

A defamation expert witness has knowledge and professional background in reputation issues, and provides testimony in a legal case by offering court-admissible analysis and opinions to help explain their evaluation of the elements of defamation, how damaging statements are communicated and distributed, and the resulting reputational and financial damages.

Only those with a qualified background are likely to be able to testify in defamation lawsuits. Read on to understand the unique qualifications necessary for defamation experts…

Qualifications

• Professional Background Related to Evaluation of Reputation Issues
  
  A defamation expert witness typically comes from one of a few different careers: Public Affairs, Reputation Management, Academic Research (this could involve Marketing, Communications, Journalism, or Psychology), and Legal.
  
• Significant Experience in Related Professional Fields
  
  The expert should have experience that closely relates to individuals’ and/or organizations’ reputations, and how those reputations can be harmed by slander, libel, or false light. The candidate for a defamation lawsuit ought to have worked in their field for a significant period of time, such as for five years or longer.
  
• Recognition of Peers in Their Field
  
  Merely declaring that one is knowledgeable in reputation issues is insufficient in and of itself. Ideally, candidates should have some verifiable recognition from their peers. This could be in the form of having peer-reviewed papers published in academic journals or publication in major media. It could also be recognition in the form of being asked to speak multiple times at professional conferences, publication of books (not self-published ones). It could also be in the form of having won an award in their discipline.
  
• Knowledgeable in Search Engine Technology & Internet Technology
  
  Many contemporary defamation cases involve negative content appearing in search engines’ results pages, and for this reason, it is not only advantageous but a necessity that the expert witness have a depth of experience and knowledge to explain how media and technology work for the court, but also be able to fairly assess cause and effect. For this reason, SEO experts are one type of expert that may frequently chosen to serve in defamation litigation as they have the requisite background and skills to evaluate how and why certain media may appear prominently in Google, Bing, Yahoo! and other search engines’ keyword search results.
  
  Further, the expert may be called upon to explain how content was published on websites, how the website’s content management system functions, the search engine ranking elements in the code of webpages, how external links to content influence its rankings in search, how domain names function, geolocation data that helps identify or exonerate litigants where “anonymous” content is posted, and information from specialized industry tools that can show historic rankings and quantities of traffic.
  
  A key element of defamation cases often is that of website analytics, and interpretation of this data requires a depth of experience and knowledge to analyze it and to explain it to courts.
  
  Internet Advertising, particularly through search engines, has also been involved in defamation cases, and this can require yet more specialized background and experience, although those involved in SEO frequently have this experience in addition to experience in organic/natural content search rankings.
  
  Further specialized types of experience may be required depending on the facts of a defamation lawsuit, such as technical and/or management experience involving: images, videos, interactive media, email (and email marketing), blogs, forums, domain names, PDFs, maps, and APIs (application programming interfaces).
  
• Social Media Experience
  
  Online defamation lawsuits increasingly have involved social media in one form or another — either the allegedly defamatory statements are first published in social media, or they can be published first elsewhere and then republished or distributed via social media platforms as well. Because of this, it is important to identify potential expert witnesses who have specific experience with the social media platforms involved, and not just a casual acquaintance with them. While social media expertise typically does not require technologists with programming knowledge, a high degree of technical ability can help for various unique situations that can arise in defamation litigation. Vital skills necessary for a social media expert would include:
  
  • (1) ideally, having managed many social media accounts over a significant period of time, such as professionals who provide social media management on behalf of individuals and organizations;
  • (2) having conducted social media for very large accounts or having conducted social media techniques to grow social media accounts to many thousands of followers;
  • (3) having experience with social media analytics — metrics are often unique to each social media platform, and this affects how exposures to defamatory materials should be evaluated and counted;
  • (4) having direct experience with the social media platform involved in the case at hand — each platform is unique, so a candidate needs experience in the particular platform, whether it is YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, X.com, Pinterest, Vimeo, Snapchat, LinkedIn, Threads, Nextdoor, Discord, Twitch, Truth Social, Gab, Bluesky, or others.
    
• Prior Defamation Expert Witness Litigation Experience
  
  It should be obvious that having significant prior testifying experience is a major qualifier for serving as a defamation expert witness in any new/upcoming case. An ideal candidate ought to have served as a defamation expert witness in multiple prior cases, including providing expert reports/declarations/affidavits, testifying at depositions, and testifying in court trials. Where a defamation expert witness has testified in court previously, it shows that the expert has previously been accepted as qualified by a judge. If an expert has been qualified by courts multiple times, it becomes more likely and more easily accepted by any court that they may be deemed qualified for similar cases and for similar expertise.
  
  Beyond just the fact that experts who have been previously considered qualified may more easily be qualified on a new case, ideal expert witnesses should have experience in prior cases in order to provide more reliable testimony. Inexperienced experts are more prone to making consequential mistakes.
  
  The corollary of how experienced defamation expert witnesses make fewer key errors is that inexperienced and less-experienced expert witnesses are so prone to making key errors that hiring them could prove to be a waste of money: If they make sufficient mistakes, all of their testimony in a case could get excluded and completely thrown out.
  

Because so many defamation complaints involve the internet, most cases require that a defamation expert witness have a significant background in SEO, internet technology, internet analytics, and social media. Of the SEO experts and internet experts who have the requisite technological expertise, only a subset of those have the necessary experience in Online Reputation Management (ORM), social media management, and prior defamation litigation experience.

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