WordPress removes blog after libel allegation

06 Jan 2010

Popular west of England site The Bristol Blogger was temporarily removed by blogging platform WordPress after it received a complaint from former University of the West of England vice-chancellor Howard newby.
In a statement given to local radio station Star FM, WordPress said:

We received a complaint that there were a number of false and defamatory statements on the blog. This was checked and we agreed with the complaint.
The blog was was suspended to remove the material from view.
The blog owner has been in touch, the blog is not now suspended and he has details of the statements which need removing.
This has to be done today.

He has been advised that if he disputes this and wishes the statements he made to be allowed on the blog then he must settle the issue outside of wordpress.com first.

We do not censor blogs but where defamation has occurred we are obliged to act as stated in our Terms of Service.

Apart from the specified statements we have no issue with any other parts of the blog right now.

Read more here

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10 Comments

10 Comments so far
  1. don Phillips

    January 6, 2010 at 13:15

    It is just too easy. Free speech is never abolished. It just dies in a thousand places.

  2. Neil

    January 6, 2010 at 13:42

    If I were this guy I’d have the site hosted somewhere else instead of the WordPress.com site so he can say what he likes.

  3. Jake

    January 6, 2010 at 16:19

    There is no right to free speech on a private web site, Don.

  4. Derek Wall

    January 6, 2010 at 20:08

    I would urge readers to find out about Sir Howard and blog (not in a way with any legal implications),
    he was a controversial figure at the University of the West of England.

  5. [...] at Index on Censorshop, and Bristol 24-7: Claims of “false and defamatory statements” concerning the former [...]

  6. [...] story developing in the US. We’re trying to get confirmation from WordPress but it looks like the bloggers platform has again buckled under the threat of legal action, its taken down a science student’s blog after [...]

  7. [...] of Legal Services go after the low lying blog fruit, which also caught the attention of Index on Censorship. This pushed my anti-censorship button and I made a humorous post that largely concerned itself [...]

  8. wine and accessories

    September 2, 2010 at 14:23

    The analysis sited is indisputable. I will need to say that tom really need to check his details and re-think his conclusion. The authorites have spoken and the rest of must to respect that. Thanks for the very well laid out into.

  9. Rxzokvni

    July 4, 2011 at 09:49

    tribal horse tatoos,

  10. [...] 2.) WordPress can also be contacted to remove this blog due to defamation, as in the case with Howard Newby. [...]

10 Responses to “WordPress removes blog after libel allegation”




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