Actual malice
Actual malice in
US law is defined as "knowledge that the
information was false" or that it was published "with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not." This is only the definition in the
United States and came from the landmark
1964 lawsuit
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan that ruled that public officials needed to prove actual malice in order to recover dammges for
libel.
Actual malice is different from common law malice which indicates spite or ill-will.