Defamation and Online Harassment Laws in Kentucky

Kentucky defamation law comes mainly from court decisions, supplemented by statutes on defenses, privileged reports and corrections. The Kentucky Supreme Court lists four elements: a false and defamatory statement about the plaintiff, an unprivileged publication to a third party, fault amounting at least to negligence, and either a statement actionable without proof of special harm or actual special harm caused by the publication.

Sources1Toler v. Süd-Chemie, Inc., No. 2013-SC-000002-DG (Ky. 2014, as corrected 2015)2Stringer v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 2001-SC-0262-DG (Ky. Oct. 21, 2004)

Kentucky once prosecuted criminal libel as a common-law crime, but in Ashton v. Kentucky (1966) the U.S. Supreme Court reversed such a conviction, finding the offense as defined at trial too vague to be constitutional. Kentucky's penal code abolished common-law offenses effective January 1, 1975, so conduct is a crime only if a statute makes it one, and defamation disputes are handled through civil lawsuits.

Sources3Ashton v. Kentucky, 384 U.S. 195 (1966)4KRS 500.020 (Common law offenses abolished)

Kentucky requires lawsuits for libel or slander to be filed within one year after the cause of action accrues.

Source5KRS 413.140(1)(d)

Related guide: Statute of limitations for defamation in every state

Statements that are defamatory per se are actionable on their face, so the plaintiff does not need to prove special damages because harm to reputation is presumed. Spoken words are slander per se only if they impute a crime, an infectious disease or unfitness to perform the duties of one's office or occupation, while false written statements that tend to injure a person's reputation or expose them to public hatred, contempt or shame can be libel per se. A Kentucky statute also makes an accusation of incest, fornication or adultery actionable without proof of special damage.

Sources2Stringer v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 2001-SC-0262-DG (Ky. Oct. 21, 2004)1Toler v. Süd-Chemie, Inc., No. 2013-SC-000002-DG (Ky. 2014, as corrected 2015)6KRS 411.040

Related guide: What defamation per se means

Kentucky adopted the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act effective July 14, 2022. It covers claims based on statements in government proceedings and on speech, press, assembly, petition or association about a matter of public concern, subject to listed exceptions. A defendant can file a special motion to dismiss within 60 days of being served (or later for good cause); the court must dismiss with prejudice if the act applies and the plaintiff cannot make a prima facie case or the claim fails as a matter of law, and a defendant who wins the motion is awarded costs, reasonable attorney's fees and expenses related to it.

Sources7KRS 454.460 (Definitions)8KRS 454.462 (Scope)9KRS 454.464 (Special motion for expedited relief)10KRS 454.472 (Dismissal)11KRS 454.478 (Costs and attorney's fees)

Related guide: Anti-SLAPP laws by state

When a newspaper, magazine or periodical is sued over a defamatory statement, it is liable for actual damages and can point to a published correction to reduce them. Punitive damages are available only if the plaintiff proves legal malice and that the publisher failed to print a timely, conspicuous correction after receiving a signed written demand before the suit was filed (within 10 business days for a daily paper). Radio and TV stations owe only special damages unless the plaintiff made such a demand and the station failed to air a correction within one business day.

Sources12KRS 411.051 (Newspapers, magazines, periodicals)13KRS 411.061 (Radio and television stations)

Truth is an absolute defense, and a defendant may also prove mitigating circumstances to reduce damages. Fair and impartial reports of government and court proceedings are privileged unless the plaintiff proves malice (or, for court reports, certain refusals to publish an explanation or outcome), and a qualified privilege covers communications between people with a shared interest, such as workplace reports about an employee; to overcome it the plaintiff must show both falsity and actual malice. Pure opinion based on stated or commonly known facts is absolutely privileged, while an opinion implying undisclosed defamatory facts can be actionable, and public officials suing over their official conduct must prove actual malice.

Sources14KRS 411.045 (Defenses)15KRS 411.060 (Privileged reports)1Toler v. Süd-Chemie, Inc., No. 2013-SC-000002-DG (Ky. 2014, as corrected 2015)16Cromity v. Meiners, No. 2013-CA-002117-MR (Ky. Ct. App. 2015), applying Yancey v. Hamilton, 786 S.W.2d 854 (Ky. 1989)17New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964)

Kentucky's stalking law, rewritten as a single offense effective July 15, 2026, covers an intentional course of conduct of two or more acts that seriously alarms, annoys, intimidates or harasses someone, serves no legitimate purpose and causes substantial mental distress. The course of conduct expressly includes acts using computers, the internet, social media, email, text or instant messages. Stalking is a Class D felony, raised to a Class C felony in aggravated cases, such as when a protective order already covers the victim or the victim is placed in reasonable fear of physical injury.

Sources18KRS 508.130 (Stalking)19KRS 508.140 (Repealed, 2026)20KRS 508.150 (Repealed, 2026)

Related guide: Cyberstalking laws explained

Harassing communications is a Class B misdemeanor in Kentucky. It covers communicating with someone, anonymously or not, by phone, mail or any electronic or written means, with intent to intimidate, harass, annoy or alarm, in a way that causes annoyance or alarm and serves no legitimate purpose. A separate harassment offense covers a repeated course of conduct that alarms or seriously annoys another person.

Sources21KRS 525.080 (Harassing communications)22KRS 525.070 (Harassment)

Related guide: Online harassment laws explained

Since 2021, Kentucky has made it a crime to intentionally post someone's personally identifying information, such as a home address, phone number, email, date of birth or workplace, on a public website or forum with intent to intimidate, threaten or harass, when it would make a reasonable person fear physical injury to themselves or their family. The offense is a Class A misdemeanor, rising to a felony if injury or death results. Victims can also sue for actual and punitive damages plus attorney's fees.

Sources23KRS 525.085 (Dissemination of personally identifying information)24KRS 411.065 (Civil action)

Related guide: Is doxxing illegal?

Kentucky makes it a crime to intentionally distribute private sexual images of a person to a third party without their written consent, with intent to profit or to harm, harass, intimidate, threaten or coerce them, when the disclosure would cause a reasonable person harm. It is a Class A misdemeanor for a first offense and a felony for repeat or for-profit offenses. Websites and apps that distribute such images must remove them at the request of the person depicted and may not charge a removal fee; a separate sexual extortion offense covers threats to share intimate images.

Sources25KRS 531.120 (Distribution of sexually explicit images without consent)26KRS 531.125 (Sexual extortion)