Sweet & Maxwell produced research on the number of libel lawsuits (Credit: Sweet & Maxwell)

Legal information group Sweet & Maxwell produced research indicating that libel lawsuits originating from social networking and blog sites have doubled in the past year, the Guardian reported.

The cases “jumped from seven to 16 in the year to May 31 2011.”  The BBC added that the study focused on England and Wales.

The Guardian noted that “none of the cases” included were brought against or by “established media companies.”  Media specialist Korieh Duodu attributed the suits to the lack of fact checking, according to the Guardian.

Read more about the research here.