defamation
defaming an anonymous person
<p>Suppose there is someone only known by an avatar. Suppose no public information is available as to who is the real person behind the avatar.</p>
<p>My question is whether there is any case-law about whether the unknown real person can be defamed by writing something nasty about the avatar.</p>
<p>Please note that I am <strong>not</strong> asking about the far more common situation of being defamed by an anonymous person. In my question it is the anonymous person who may or may not be defamed.</p>

<p><a href="/questions/tagged/canada" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;canada&#39;" aria-label="show questions tagged &#39;canada&#39;" rel="tag" aria-labelledby="tag-canada-tooltip-container">canada</a></p>
<p>I am aware of no case raising this fact pattern. However, much has been said about defamation where the plaintiff is not explicitly identified.</p>
<p>To be successful in defamation, the plaintiff must show that the published expression &quot;would tend to lower the plaintiff's reputation in the eyes of a reasonable person&quot; and that the published expression &quot;<strong>in fact referred to the plaintiff</strong>&quot; (<em>Grant v. Torstar</em>, <a href="https://canlii.ca/t/27430#par28" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2009 SCC 61 at para. 28</a>).</p>
<p>When the plaintiff is not named, the question is whether there is evidence from which an &quot;ordinary sensible person would draw the inference that the words referred to the plaintiff.&quot; That evidence must &quot;connect the [defamation] with the plaintiff.&quot; The plaintiff needs to show that it would be reasonable for a &quot;hypothetical sensible reader who knew the special facts&quot; to infer that the impugned expression referred to the plaintiff and that these special facts/circumstances were known in the community. See <em>S.G. v. J.C.</em>, <a href="https://canlii.ca/t/1f8z3#par24" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2001 CanLII 3041 (Ont. C.A.) at para. 24</a>; <em>Arnott v. College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan</em> (1953), <a href="https://canlii.ca/t/g79k5#par70" rel="nofollow noreferrer">[1954] 1 D.L.R. 529 (Sask. C.A.) at para. 70</a>).</p>
<p>For an argument that it should be possible for the person behind an avatar to sue for damage to the avatar's reputation, see Mark Lemley &amp; Eugene Volokh, &quot;Law, Virtual Reality, and Augmented Reality&quot; (2018) <a href="https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9622&amp;context=penn_law_review" rel="nofollow noreferrer">166:5 U. Penn. L. Rev 1051</a>. That article is based in U.S. law, but I don't see their argument on this point to be limited to that context, given that is largely an argument from policy and first principles, rather than one based in legal doctrine.</p>
