27/07/2026
Defamation doesn’t need a courtroom to start. A screenshot and a send button can be enough.
Under South African law, a post, comment, or group chat message can all qualify as publication. Intent isn’t the test: what matters is whether a statement was false, published, and damaged someone’s reputation in the eyes of a reasonable person. Deleting it after doesn’t undo it either, screenshots and recovered posts can still surface as evidence.
None of this is a reason to stay silent online. It’s a reason to pause before posting in anger. That pause costs nothing. The legal process that can follow doesn’t.
Unsure whether something crosses the line? Worth a proper conversation, not a guess.