Non-Consensual Speech: Lying

Lies injure those who believe them. If a lie is about a person, and the lie is believed and acted upon, the person lied about is also injured. Thus lying involves at least one non-consenting party. By lying, of course, I do not mean fiction. Reasonable people (becoming scarcer all the time) know that fiction is not literally true. Fighting lies with the truth is the best strategy, but this strategy is often difficult because …

…lying are not content based. That is, truth or falsehood is not a form of "content" but rather a relationship between speech and reality. Nevertheless, permitting legal redress for lying certainly has a "chilling" effect, and this chilling effect can in some instances constitute censorship. In Britain, for example, it is much easier to sue for libel than it is in the US. I much prefer the more stringent libel requirements that exist in America.