The crime of libel (Article 246 of the Criminal Law) refers to the deliberate fabrication and dissemination of fictional facts, which is enough to degrade the personality and damage the reputation of others, and the circumstances are serious.
Elements of slander:
Theme element
The object of this crime is the same as the crime of insult, which is the personal dignity and reputation right of others. The object of criminal infringement is a natural person.
Objective elements
The objective aspect of this crime is that the actor fabricates and spreads some fictional facts, which is enough to degrade the personality and reputation of others and the circumstances are serious.
(1) There must be an act of fabricating some facts, that is, the content of slandering others is completely fictitious. If the facts spread are not fabricated out of thin air, but exist objectively, even if the personality and reputation of others are damaged, it does not constitute this crime.
(2) There must be acts of spreading and fabricating facts. The so-called communication is the public communication in society. There are basically two ways of communication: one is text communication; The other is text, which is distributed through posters, small print posters, pictures, newspapers, books, letters and other methods. The so-called "derogatory enough" refers to the fabricated and disseminated false facts, which may completely degrade the personality and reputation of others, or have actually caused actual damage to the personality and reputation of the victim. If you spread false facts, but it is impossible to damage the personality and reputation of others, or it will not damage the personality and reputation of others, it does not constitute libel.
(3) Defamation must be directed at a specific person, but it is not necessary to name names. As long as we know who the victim is from the content of libel, it can constitute libel. If the facts spread by the actor have no specific target and it is impossible to degrade someone's personality and reputation, it cannot be punished as libel.
(4) The act of fabricating facts and slandering others must be serious to constitute this crime. Although there is an act of fabricating facts to slander others, if the circumstances are not serious, it cannot be punished as this crime. The so-called serious circumstances mainly refer to the repeated fabrication of facts to slander others; Fabricating facts and causing serious damage to the personality and reputation of others; Fabricating facts to slander others, causing adverse effects; Defamation of others leads to the victim's mental disorder or suicide, and so on.
Theme element
The subject of this crime is the general subject, and any natural person who has reached the age of criminal responsibility and has the ability of criminal responsibility can constitute this crime. Units cannot constitute the subject of crime.
subjective factor
Subjectively, this crime must be intentional. The actor knows that he is spreading false facts that can damage the reputation of others, knows that his actions will lead to harmful results that will damage the reputation of others, and hopes that such results will happen. The actor's purpose is to discredit others. If the actor misunderstands false facts as true facts and spreads them, or spreads some false facts for the purpose of damaging the reputation of others, it does not constitute libel.