EXOD745 We are forbidden to listen to loshon hara or to believe it to be true if we have heard it. This is a prohibition against accepting loshon hora (derogatory information about others). (Mechilta cited by Rashi; Pesochim 118a, Rambam, Hilchos Sanhedrin 21:7; see Chofetz Chayim, Prohibition 2.) Laws pertaining to this prohibition are dealt with at length in the book Chofetz Chayim, chapters six and seven and in an English adaptation, Guard Your Tongue. [Author lists eight "essential excerpts."]