A Partner at AudreyGrey, Samuel Alesu-Dordzi, has cautioned that not every publication that annoys, embarrasses or hurts a person’s feelings amounts to defamation, stressing that the law is specifically concerned with damage to reputation.

Speaking on JoyNews’ The Law on Sunday, July 7, Mr Alesu-Dordzi said it was important for discussions on defamation to clearly define not only what constitutes defamation, but also what falls outside it, as the boundaries are often misunderstood.

According to him, many people wrongly assume that once a publication is upsetting or offensive, it automatically becomes defamatory.

He explained that a message, statement or publication may be irritating or emotionally hurtful, but that alone does not satisfy the legal threshold for defamation.

“A writing or a communication or any form of messaging that is annoying or that injures your feelings is not automatically defamation,” he noted.

He said such reactions often trigger immediate threats of legal action, even though the law of defamation is narrower in scope and focuses specifically on injury to a person’s reputation.

Mr Alesu-Dordzi further noted that financial loss or commercial harm resulting from a publication also does not automatically make the matter one of defamation.

“The essence of defamation is reputation. So any other extra concerns regarding economic interest and all, that is the subject for a different area of the law, and definitely not defamation,” he said.

He also cited breach of confidence as another issue that may arise from a publication or disclosure but does not, in itself, amount to defamation.

He said understanding these distinctions was critical to helping the public appreciate the legal limits of defamation claims and avoid conflating them with other legal wrongs.

“In asking what defamation is, it’s equally important to reflect on what it is not as well, because within the same ecosystem, there are a lot of things that sit in that intersection with other areas of the law, but clearly do not fall under defamation,” he added.