Honest comment meaning

Honest comment describes the defamation defence that protects statements of opinion (rather than assertions of fact) where the writer or speaker genuinely holds the view and it is based on identified, true or privileged facts. In practice, this defence is now more commonly called honest opinion and, in many jurisdictions, has replaced the common law defence of fair comment. In England and Wales, section 3 of the Defamation Act 2013 defines the defence: the statement must be recognisable as opinion; the basis of the opinion must be indicated; and an honest person could have held the opinion on the basis of any existing fact or a privileged statement. The defence is defeated if the claimant proves the defendant did not genuinely hold the opinion. Scotland has a similar statutory defence under section 7 of the Defamation and Malicious Publication (Scotland) Act 2021. Ireland provides a statutory defence of honest opinion in section 20 of the Defamation Act 2009. In Northern Ireland, the common law defence of fair comment broadly continues to apply; “honest comment” there is a descriptive label rather than a statutory term.