How Courtney Love and U.S.’s First Twitter Libel Trial Could Impact Journalists

By: Ellyn Angelotti | Poynter

How does defamation law apply in the context of Twitter?

We may find out very soon thanks to Courtney Love, who is the first person to defend an allegedly defamatory tweet in a U.S. courtroom when the Gordon & Holmes v. Love trial began Monday.

A handful of Twitter libel, or Twibel, cases have been filed in the past (see below), but none have actually gone to trial in the U.S. yet.