Section 2 of the Commercial Torts Law prohibits a business from publishing untrue information about another business, its products, and its services. Additionally, this section permits taking action against distributors of such information as long as it is possible to prove that they knew that the information is untrue.

This protection is especially important in the age of social networks and content discovery systems that enable information to be easily distributed. This ability serves as a basis for unfair trade practices by publishing and distributing negative information about competitors and their products.

The tort of false description can stand alone or be used in conjunction with other causes of action in the fields of defamation and privacy protection.