Expiation for a gathering involving backbiting and talebearing

Question:
This is Umm Badr saying: We are a group of women who gather and talk, but we do not know if there is backbiting of others in our conversation. What should we do, and what is its expiation?

Answer:
Yes, if there is no backbiting in it, praise be to Allah, the gathering is permissible and the talk is permissible. As for the expiation of the gathering, when a person stands up and says, "Subhanak Allahumma wa bihamdika, astaghfiruka Allahumma wa atubu ilayk" (Glorified are You, O Allah, and with Your praise I seek Your forgiveness, O Allah, and I repent to You), this is the expiation for the gathering. If the gathering was a place of evil, this supplication expiates it, except if there was backbiting, in which case it does not...
...expiate it except by seeking permission from the person who was backbitten. If he grants permission, it is forgiven for the one who backbitten. But if he does not grant permission, the one who backbitten is punished, because this is the right of a created being, and it is not dropped by seeking forgiveness alone. And if the gathering did not contain backbiting, nor the result of talebearing, nor anything forbidden, then it becomes an increase of good for the Muslim. It is like a seal upon the good, meaning it is a conclusion for the good that occurred in this gathering, such as a gathering of dhikr (remembrance of Allah), a gathering of knowledge, and so on. Yes.