My state is florida. I live in miami.

You can sue someone for defamation even if its not in any published media? A toxic ex that i left has been accusing me of raping, physically abusing, sexually assaulting, stalking, and even threatening to murder her.

So far none of these are (obviously) true but they’ve been spreading it around the school that i am, including both their and my friends, specifically trying to cause as much harm as possible by spreading it as much as possible.

One of my friends, for example, directly said that they were told not to talk to me because my ex told them that they were afraid “i was planning to sexually assault this (friend)”. Other friends have told me that shes gone around saying that ive been chasing her with a knife, following her home, hitting her (i have never laid my hands on her), or that i raped her by touching her while she explicitly said no (again, never happened, i always made sure to respect consent, and they were the ones always pressuring me into sex and saying i didnt want them whenever i said no)

I didnt think this was something i could involve the law in but its seriously affected my mental health especially since the relationship was already abuse with her cheating/ frequently manipulating me. I thought i had to either fight it on a personal front with the people she spread it to or somehow involve the school, but theyve done nothing. They continue to spread rumors as much as possible and it hurts, a lot. Its made me lose friends, affected my ability to be in a lot of clubs as ive gotten kicked out, some of which ive been in for multiple years.

I am 17, turning 18 soon. I got this idea after i saw a similar situation to mine- where someone lost their friends because their ex lied about that person attempting to rape them- and many redditors said to sue for defamation.

However i know that /relationship advice redditors are kind of trigger happy and not the best legal advisors. Im just wondering if theres anything- anything at all here, even if its a small claim. My instinct is no since it seems like such a personal and not legal issue but…itd be nice.

Honestly even if i dont win, if theres a chance theres benefit. At least there would be the benefit of spreading the fact that the information is blatant misinformation and made up, even if the potential insufficient severity of the damage done doesnt qualify it as defamation (or any other reason that wouldnt qualify it)

If it is possible, what id want out of this is some type of restraining order. They havent respected my request for no contact and have repeatedly tried to talk to me, or approach me through direct and indirect means. They have snuck into my bag once to leave a message with a heart. Not illegal, im Pretty sure, but creepy.