If my website was to be used where people can talk about the company they work for, nothing nasty, just normal work discussion, could the said company(ies) sue me as the website owner if they do not like what is being said about them by their employees? The companies on the website are mainly UK based. I am a UK individual, the website is registered in my name, and the site is hosted in the US. Thanks in advance for your advice.
I don't think they could sue you. The most they could do is ask for details on the user that is posting the things they don't like. For that I'm sure they would need a to contact the police to obtain a warrant.
Thanks for the reply. The only details I could give would be an email address (which could be an disposable one, therefore no direct link to anyone) or an IP address. There are many sites that have been set up to give companies a bad name, but who does the companies lawyers "go after" when this happens? Is it the web host or the web master? As long as nothing libelous is being said, is there anything a business can do to take the site offline?
You would have logs that would have the IP address of all posters. With a court order they could obtain that information and track the poster. Your domain name should not have the company name or any of their trademarks in it. You should put a disclaimer on the site that you are not affiliated in any way with the company. While you are generally protected from liability, lawsuits are always a possibility with any site.