If you’ve ever wondered where freedom of speech stops, and where defamation begins – we can help you with that.

With the work we do, we often get asked how to know when something is considered defamatory or not. The answer can be found in our content guidelines, however, even the smartest person can be confused by lawyer-speak.

So, we thought we’d give a rundown of the main points of our content guideline that you need to be aware of when publishing your review on a public Platform such as ours.

What does defamatory actually mean? 🤔

Defamatory can be defined as:

“The action of damaging the good reputation of someone; slanderous or libellous.”

So, on a website such as ours, we’d advise you not to publish anything that can be viewed as:

• Offensive
• Harassment
• Intentionally malicious or vindictive
• Personal or identifying information

Hellopeter etiquette 🤝

In the context of Hellopeter, this means that when you’re publishing your review, it’s important to:

• Write factually, not emotionally
• Report on what happened without using any terms that are derogatory (rude) 
• Not use names such as scammer, fraudulent, con artist (that can hurt someone’s business) without having an actual ruling against them

It’s incredibly easy to use this sort of language without realising it, especially when you’re writing about a negative experience.

It’s understandable that while in the moment you might be very frustrated when coming onto our Platform, however, you need to keep in mind the language you use, and how you speak to and about the business.

We care about you 🤗

We want your review to stay up just as much as you do, as we believe reviews are not only to help you – but also the business and other South Africans. However, we also want to protect you from any legal issues that may arise from using defamatory language, which is why this sort of review has to be deleted.

Still unsure? Pop us a message on social media and we’ll be more than happy to explain the above in greater detail.