The difference between slander and libel is that libel is the written or otherwise published, public defamation of a person or entity such as an organization or company, while slander is the spoken false defamation of a person or entity. Slander can also include bodily gestures while libel can include published photographs. Defamation is any wrongful injury to the reputation of a person or entity.

While the right to fairly criticize people or entities and publicly share information is one of the hallmarks of personal freedom, it is illegal to malign the reputation of another through slander or libel.

As an example assume Mr. Brooks is assistant editor at the fictitious XYZ Magazine. He has a few too many libations at the company party, is nursing a personal grudge about not being able to control his stories, and begins badmouthing XYZ Magazine to the wives of a few co-workers. He tells the women that XYZ has no integrity, is always stealing competitor's material, and is set to go bankrupt because of its horrific management... none of which is true and all of which has been conjured up by his hurt pride. This is slander.

Let's further hypothesize that Mr. Brooks leaves XYZ to work for ABC Magazine where he publishes a story about XYZ with the same falsehoods. Now Mr. Brooks has engaged in libel.

The examples above would remain accurate if Mr. Brooks had been badmouthing a specific person, rather than a company. However, if Mr. Brooks had targeted a general group of people without naming anyone specifically, U.S. law does not allow the plaintiff to be "a group of people," and therefore no recourse would likely be available through these laws for those who felt they were the intended victims.

Recently the difference between slander and libel has become less distinct since speaking on public television or radio amounts to libel because of the public dissemination of the spoken words. For this reason defamation through television or radio is considered libel in countries like Canada, and may be handled as libel in the United States where laws differ from state to state.

Posting false and defamatory information online also amounts to libel, not just on a website but also in the context of a discussion in a USENET newsgroup, listserv or IRC chat room. Several libel lawsuits in various countries have been brought against parties for Internet libel, somtimes referred to as cyberlibel.

United States law dictates that for something to be considered libel it must be proven that the one making the libelous charges did so with malicious intent and with full knowledge that the statements were false. Furthermore personal opinion is protected as a First Amendment right. Therefore being careful to state the facts of a personal experience in non-malicious language, followed by words like, "therefore in my opinion..." will go a long way towards protecting yourself against charges of slander or libel.