> "This guy is a creeper and treats romantic partners terribly" is pure opinion, and cannot be defamatory.

That is true. But i think untrained and emotionaly involved individuals will have trouble navigating the boundaries of defamation. Instead of writing opinions like “treats romantic partners terribly” they will write statements purporting facts like “this creep lured me to his house, raped me, and gave me the clap”. This is not an opinion but three individually provable statements of facts. Plus the third would be considered “defamation per se” in most jurisdictions if it were false. (The false allegation that someone has an STD is considered so loathsome that in most places the person wouldn’t need to prove damages.)

Unles specifically coached people would write this second way. Both because it is rethoricaly more powerfull, but also because they would report on their own personal experience. To be able to say “treats romantic partners terribly” they would need to canvas multiple former partners and then put their emotionaly charged stories into calm terms. That requires a lot of work. While the kind of message i’m suggesting only requires the commenter to report things they personaly know about. And in an emotionaly charged situation, like a breakup, people would be more likely to exagarate in their descriptions, making defamatory claims more likely.

> Under US law, providers are generally not liable for defamatory content generated by users…

This is true, and i believe this is the real key. Even if the commenters would be liable, the site themselves would be unlikely to become liable with them.

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tptacek 5 days ago | parent [-]

Just keep in mind there are two very high bars you need to clear to come out ahead on a defamation action:

1. To prove that the factual claims made by the defendant were false, and that the defendant should have known they were false

2. That you suffered actual damages from those claims

Very hard to make happen on a dating app.

	▲	swores 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		Worth pointing out that you're talking purely from a US point of view, and different countries treat slander and libel differently. For example in the US, to sue for defamation you need to prove something is false, whereas in the UK the defendant has to prove that what they said or wrote (and are being sued for) is true. (I've no idea whether this app had any non-US use, but thought worth adding this comment regardless since it's a general point about defamation law and being discussed on a site with a big international audience.)