Is it a crime of libel to slander others by SMS?

The crime of libel (Article 245 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.

(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.