UK Social Media Defamation: What You Could Do

The Internet gave way for people to interact with each other quickly and effectively through social media and electronic messaging. However, this also gave way for many people to post offensive and obscene methods of expressing themselves through messages, pranks and deliberate meanness. Here are a few ways you could defend yourself against social media defamation in the United Kingdom.

1.     Defamation Bill 2013

On April 23, 2013, the UK Lords passed a defamation bill that would stop cases against journalists, academics or individuals who live outside the cases to reduce the amount of libel in the United Kingdom. The law makes filing for libel in social media a bit more difficult because you will need to prove the social effects of the defamation before the law can take action.

2.     Copy Important Documents

Conversations, mocking social media profiles, wall posts, tweets, blogs and virtually anything that shows defamation against you or any party, organization or other business must be documented and saved. Copying important documents like these online on soft copies serve as evidence in your future defamation case against the defamer.

3.     Leeway

In the Internet, defamation is different from cyberbullying. If a threat was issued against a person, they could just have the individual surveyed by authorities in case they prove true to their promise. Cyberbullying is intently defaming a person. Defamation, in itself, is a negative branding of a person, company or organization. There is leeway given to defamation than cyberbullying.

UK Fraud Laws: What Protection Do You Have?

In every country, people will try countless methods to earn more from a buyer by selling them a fraud or involving them in a scam. Every country deems fraud punishable by law. In the United Kingdom, the Fraud Act of 2006 protects consumers from fraud, fraud by false representation, fraud by failing to disclose information, fraud by superposition and more.

Most UK fraud and scams come from the Internet, through telemarketing or text marketing, and through actual fraud of certain criminals. Sometimes, these scams come from an anonymous call or text that is unsolicited. Often, these scams will tell you that you have money waiting in your bank account and a fee is needed to deposit the amount into your bank account.

Fraud by false representation tackles the area of buying designer products that turn out to be imitations with sub-par quality of materials used. Fake items, such as bags and clothing, are common targets. With digital media, pirated movies, DVDs and CDs are punishable by law for selling or even ownership.

If you’re a victim of fraud, the UK government has the Action Fraud hotline for its citizens who fell victim to Internet crime frauds and scams. Action Fraud’s suspects are not limited to individuals to large corporations and organized crime. Again, all fraud suspects are subject to punishment by the Fraud Act of 2006, which is commonly five to seven years imprisonment.

Things To Know About Divorce In the United Kingdom

UK’s divorce procedure is not very difficult if it is undefended and the complainant can fill up all the necessary forms properly and process them in the proper agencies. Undefended divorces do not require a legal court proceeding as it is with the consent of the two parties. Defended divorces can be difficult because of the settlement of issues between the two parties.

Complainants also have a choice to do their own divorces by themselves. Most legal companies offer free online tutorials and the forms needed. Most legal companies also offer smaller fee for starting DIY divorces.

For undefended divorce services, a standard divorce service including everything could cost an average of £250-300. Online divorce services may cost half around £150-200. Do it yourself divorce services where the legal company begins the divorce procedure for you could only cost around £90.

If you have a defended divorce, the case hearing might take a long time and the costs for undefended divorces above could increase in value.

A defended divorce handles cases such as unreasonable behaviour, desertion, dissolution, adultery, two to five years separation, no fault and irreconcilable differences, which is why it is more expensive and it takes more time to resolve. Defended divorce costs also increase with the use of legal courts and personnel.

UK’s Penalties for Tax Evasion

The proper filing of taxes is a requirement in most countries and to skip this requirement could mean great penalties. In the United Kingdom, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) ensures that all UK citizens fulfill their stamp duties and pay their taxes accordingly, or else, they can face the following consequences:

1.     Custodial Sentence

In a serious case of tax evasion, a citizen could face potential custodial sentence for tax evasion. Usually, these involve the citizen not paying their taxes for more than half a decade and gaining a large net profit. Sometimes, if the business is an underground business, for example, the sale of smuggled oil or perishable goods without taxation, the larger the profit, the larger the citizen’s potential for a custodial sentence.

2.     Paying it All Back

Along with the tax evader’s sentence, the law also requires you to pay back all the tax you owe along with the interest the tax has accrued over time. Along with the interest, you will also pay back the maximum penalty. For serious cases, evaders are actually charged with a 100% equivalent of the tax owed by the evader.

3.     Process

If you’re incarcerated for a high amount of tax evasion, you may need to serve your sentence and pay off your tax debt for the rest of your life. However, for tax evasion cases lower than £50,000, tax evaders may only face an offense and may need to pay only their actual tax, interest rate and penalty fee with an arrangement both the evader and the HMRC agrees upon.