This defamation act makes a lot of sense. Freedom of speech is and should be limited, even in the USA. You can't just say anything you please and expect nothing to come of you. Write a letter with "Chocolate BOMB" to an airport and see what happens.
In the UK we also enjoy the fact the politicians can't just outright lie in their Manifesto about other candidates or the current government. If/when they do, action is taken to correct or (when maliciously undertaken) to disqualify that person from running for public office.
As an experience Ruby dev, these are pretty much all standard practices in real projects. I don't like shared examples, wince at the thought of that much complexity being hidden away in a test!