I find it hard to believe CH would be liable if they’d issued a public statement along the lines of “Alice and Chloe report XYZ about Nonlinear; Nonlinear disputes these claims. CH is not publicly picking a side but wants to make people aware of the dispute.”
In that example, what would CH be adding relative to Alice and Chloe making the public statement themselves? For example, if the idea is that people will give the report greater weight because it comes via CH and people know that CH wouldn’t host a report like this if they didn’t give it some credence, then that sounds (not a lawyer) potentially libelous, especially with how strict the UK is in this area.
If initial due diligence conducted by an independent third party didn’t uncover obvious evidence about which side is correct, IMO that’s very helpful info for the broader community and it really seems like there should be a way of expressing that in a way that doesn’t introduce legal liability.
In that example, what would CH be adding relative to Alice and Chloe making the public statement themselves? For example, if the idea is that people will give the report greater weight because it comes via CH and people know that CH wouldn’t host a report like this if they didn’t give it some credence, then that sounds (not a lawyer) potentially libelous, especially with how strict the UK is in this area.
(Disclosure: married to a CH team member)
If initial due diligence conducted by an independent third party didn’t uncover obvious evidence about which side is correct, IMO that’s very helpful info for the broader community and it really seems like there should be a way of expressing that in a way that doesn’t introduce legal liability.