Competitor Posting False Claims About Your Business? Here Is Your Legal Response

A competitor is telling customers your products are unsafe. Or that you’re going out of business. Or that you’re “under investigation”. Maybe it’s in a Facebook group, maybe it’s in a comparison post on their website, maybe it’s a whisper campaign to your suppliers. Whatever the channel, it’s costing you money and it’s illegal.

You don’t have to just sit there and take it. In fact, a competitor spreading lies is in a worse legal position than almost any other kind of critic.

Three laws they’re breaking at once

1. Defamation. Under the Defamation Act 2005, false statements that damage your reputation are actionable. Businesses with fewer than 10 employees can sue directly; owners and directors of larger businesses can sue personally.

2. Injurious falsehood. This is the business owner’s secret weapon. It covers deliberately false statements about your goods, services or business that cause financial loss. There’s no “serious harm” threshold and no size limit on who can sue. It’s practically designed for competitor lies.

3. Australian Consumer Law. Section 18 of the ACL prohibits misleading or deceptive conduct in trade or commerce. Section 29 prohibits false representations about goods and services, including a competitor’s. The ACCC can fine them, and you can seek damages and injunctions.

What it’s costing you

Every day a false claim stays up, its reach grows and the damage compounds. Speed matters.

The Defamation Concerns Notice

Since the 2021 reforms, a Concerns Notice is a mandatory step before suing for defamation, and it’s the right first move here. It puts your competitor on formal notice that:

• Specific statements (quoted exactly, with screenshots) are false
• They carry defamatory meanings about your business
• They constitute injurious falsehood and misleading conduct under the ACL
• You demand removal, a retraction, and an undertaking not to repeat them
• Proceedings will follow if they don’t comply within the deadline

It puts your position on the record. Your competitor is running a business too, and a defamation claim plus an ACCC complaint is a nightmare they don’t need.

Gather your evidence now

Screenshot everything with dates and URLs visible. Save messages from customers who mention what they heard. Record lost quotes and cancelled orders with dates. This evidence helps show harm and supports your notice.

Do not retaliate in kind

Posting back about them, even truthfully, muddies the water and can expose you to the same claims. Let the formal letter do the talking.

If they ignore the notice

You have 12 months from publication to commence defamation proceedings. Injurious falsehood and ACL claims have longer limitation periods.

Claim Done drafts your Defamation Concerns Notice for $49. Done in about 5 minutes. You approve it before it is sent.