Both are defamation: a false statement of fact about you, communicated to someone else, that harms your reputation. The difference is the medium, and in New York the medium decides how much you have to prove.
Libel is defamation in a fixed form: writing, print, an online post, an email, a text message forwarded to others, a video, a photograph with a caption. Slander is defamation that is spoken and not recorded: a comment to your boss, a remark at a board meeting, a rumor passed at a party.
Almost everything that happens online is libel. A Google review, a Facebook post, a tweet, an Instagram story, a Reddit thread, a message in a group chat, all written or published, all libel. People often search "slander" for something that was posted, and the law treats it as libel, which is usually to the victim's advantage.
New York treats libel as the more serious of the two because writing lasts and spreads. In a libel case, harm to reputation is generally presumed, you don't have to prove a specific financial loss. In a slander case, you generally must prove special damages: an actual, quantifiable loss, like a lost contract or a lost job, caused by the statement, unless the statement is slander per se.
The four per se categories apply to both: a false statement that charges a serious crime, injures you in your trade or profession, imputes a loathsome disease, or imputes serious sexual misconduct. A spoken accusation in one of those categories is slander per se and damages are presumed, same as libel. So the practical rule is: if it's written or posted, or if it's spoken and falls in a per se category, you don't need proof of financial loss. Spoken and outside those categories, you do.
Libel (presumed damages): a former client posts that your firm "forged documents"; an ex writes to your employer that you "have a drug problem"; a competitor's Yelp review says your restaurant "gave my family food poisoning and hid the inspection report."
Slander per se (presumed damages): a co-worker tells your manager you've been "stealing from the register"; a neighbor tells the co-op board you're "not really a licensed therapist."
Slander requiring special damages: someone tells a mutual friend you're "unreliable and always late." Insulting, probably not actionable without a provable loss, and likely opinion in any event.
Libel comes with its own evidence: the post, the email, the screenshot. Slander depends on witnesses, who heard it, when, exactly what was said. That is why a slander demand letter has to do two things a libel letter doesn't: identify the listener, and pin the words down before memories fade. The intake for our letter asks for both, and the letter demands a written retraction to the same audience that heard the original statement.
Both claims must be brought within one year of publication in New York (CPLR 215(3)). And for both, the proportionate first move is a cease and desist letter that quotes the statement, names the category, demands a stop and a retraction, and preserves the evidence. For written and online statements it also names each URL and demands deletion. The attorney-signed defamation cease and desist ($499 flat) is drafted for the medium, slander, libel, or online, and screened first so that opinion, honest reviews, and protected speech never become a letter you regret sending. The anatomy of the letter is explained in what every line of a cease and desist letter does.
Libel. Anything written or published in a fixed form, posts, reviews, comments, messages sent to third parties, is libel in New York, even if it's informal.
Usually yes, unless the spoken statement falls into a per se category: accusation of a serious crime, injury to your trade or profession, a loathsome disease, or serious sexual misconduct. Then damages are presumed.
A recording is a fixed form, and courts generally treat broadcast and recorded statements as libel. The practical point is the same: you have the evidence.
For slander, find out before sending anything. Ask the person who heard it to write down, as precisely as they can, the words and the date. A demand letter that can't quote the statement is a weak letter.
Yes. The letter lists each statement with its date and medium, demands deletion of the written ones and a retraction of the spoken ones, and directs preservation of everything.