Many of the victims that approached us after the media coverage of our case in France explained how it had been virtually impossible for them to obtain proper legal representation since lawyers are very careful with their reputation as perceived by the general public and fear that the authors of defamation against their clients may include their lawyers in their campaign.

We have also learned from politicians in several countries how political opponents use the internet to disseminate false information on social media or web sites causing the victims not to be reelected or making it virtually impossible to pursue a political career.

The harm to democracy of such tactics is alarming.