Defamation insurance: which policy covers what your business publishes?

Key points

• Media liability covers defamation as one of its main sections. On the media package we place, a letter asking you to retract or correct something already counts as a claim.
• Under that policy, tell the insurer as soon as the letter lands, and agree to nothing until it says so in writing. A complaint you already know of can fall outside a new insurer's cover.
• On many professional indemnity policies, a takedown letter is not yet a claim, so check whether yours pays anything towards costs before then.

Which policy covers a defamation claim?

Media liability insurance is the policy built for a business whose work is content. A business that publishes now and then, a newsletter or a post about its own jobs, may need less. The defamation cover in its professional indemnity or public liability policy may be enough. Your schedule, the pages that list what you bought, and the wording itself show whether that policy carries it and where it stops.

What does a letter asking for a retraction mean for your cover?

On the media liability policy we place, a written request to retract or correct something counts as a claim. You can notify the insurer from the day the letter lands, and the policy can respond from there.

Professional indemnity often draws that line later. On many of those policies a claim is a demand for money or a court proceeding. A letter that only asks you to take something down is not a claim yet. Some of those policies pay towards costs before a claim is made and some do not. Where yours does, check what sets that cover off and whether the insurer must agree before you spend. Either way, tell your broker before you reply.

Under the media policy, tell the insurer as soon as you reasonably can. Until it agrees in writing, do not admit fault, settle, offer money or run up legal costs. The insurer runs the defence, and if you turn down a settlement it recommends, anything above that figure, later costs included, can fall to you.

I build websites or run campaigns for clients. Does my policy cover what I publish?

It may cover only part of it. On some technology packages, the public liability section's advertising cover excludes advertising you do for clients for a fee, so your client campaigns can fall outside it. The public liability half of some IT policies excludes defamation in advertising, publishing or broadcasting work.

Client content can need media liability cover beside your IT policy. There is also a package for digital marketing businesses that puts professional indemnity, media liability, cyber and public liability in one policy, each part bought separately.

How does media liability insurance cover defamation?

The media policy gives defamation a section of its own. It covers libel, which is written, and slander, which is spoken. It also covers a claim that you damaged another business by publishing something false about it or its products. Privacy, copyright and trade mark claims sit in sections beside it.

The cover follows content that you, or someone working for you, create or put out in the business activities your policy lists. A client's campaign is in scope when campaign work is on that list.

The defamation section has to be bought, and your schedule shows whether it was.

Does professional indemnity insurance cover defamation?

Usually, but narrowly. Most of the professional indemnity insurance policies we place reach defamation that comes from your professional work, and commonly only where you did not intend to defame. On many, a statement you knew, or ought reasonably to have known, was defamatory is not covered.

Does public liability or cyber insurance cover defamation?

Many of the public liability policies we place include defamation in one of two places. One is advertising injury, which covers your own advertising. The other is what the policy calls personal injury, a heading that covers harm to a person's reputation as well as their body. Some include none at all. Most of those that carry it exclude a business whose main work is advertising, broadcasting or publishing, and a statement you knew was false. Some exclude defamation published before the policy started.

Some cyber policies include a media section that can answer a defamation claim over your own website or social media posts. Work you publish for clients is media liability's job.

Can you buy defamation cover after a complaint arrives?

Not for that complaint. The media policy excludes a complaint you already knew of. That means any claim or circumstance that you, or a director or senior executive, knew about, or ought reasonably to have known about, before the cover first started. It also excludes a claim arising from anything done on or before the retroactive date on your schedule, the cut-off date your cover looks back to.

If you already hold a policy and are thinking of switching, the start date matters. "Before the cover first started" is measured from your first day of unbroken cover with the same insurer. Change insurers with a complaint on your desk and it can fall outside the new policy. So tell the insurer you hold now, while your current cover runs.

What does a media policy leave out?

Two exclusions matter most for a defamation claim.

• Deliberate wrongdoing. The claim is excluded if you, or a director or senior executive, acted wilfully, maliciously, criminally or dishonestly. It applies once a court or tribunal finds that, or it is admitted in writing.
• Where you are sued. Content online can be read anywhere, so check the territories your policy lists against where your readers are. A legal action brought outside those countries is excluded. Claims brought in the United States share one limit for the year, and defence costs come out of that limit.

This is general information about how these policies are written, not legal advice about a particular statement.

When you claim on a policy we look after

If a letter ever comes and we look after your policy, ring us before you reply, and a specialist claims manager on our team will run the claim with the insurer and follow up its progress, with your broker involved. If we do not look after it, tell your own broker or insurer. The insurer decides the claim.

Frequently asked questions