Media Found Liable Over Facebook Comments

 

CREDIT: hcourt.gov.au

The highest court in Australia made a recent ruling that media organisations are "publishers" of allegedly defamatory comments that were posted on their Facebook pages by third parties.

Some of Australia's largest media organisations made an argument that for someone to become a publisher, they must be aware of the defamatory content and have the intent to convey it. These organisations were Fairfax Media Publications, Nationwide News, and Australian News Channel. The High Court dismissed their argument.

With a 5-2 majority decision, the court found that the media organisations participated in their communications due to facilitating and encouraging such comments.

The media organisations can now be sued for defamation by former juvenile detainee Dylan Voller.

Voller intends to sue the television broadcaster and newspaper publishers over comments posted on the Facebook pages of The Australian, Sky News Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald, Centralian Advocate, and The Bolt Report.

His defamation case began in New South Wales Supreme Court in 2017. It was then placed on hold while the decision was being made around whether or not the media organisations we liable for the Facebook comments.

The organisations posted news stories to their pages around Voller's time in juvenile detention in the Northern Territory.

Users of Facebook posted comments saying that Voller's alleges were defamatory.

News Corp Australia called for the law to be changed. They own two of the three newspapers targeted during the case.

News Corp Australia executive chairman Michael Miller said the ruling was, "significant for anyone who maintains a public social media page by finding they can be liable for comments posted by others on that page even when they are unaware of those comments."

"This highlights the need for urgent legislative reform and I call on Australia's attorneys general to address this anomaly and bring Australian law into line with comparable western democracies."

Nine, who is the new owner of The Sydney Morning Herald, hopes a current review of the defamation laws would take into the the ruling and its consequences for publishers.

 "We are obviously disappointed with the outcome of that decision, as it will have ramifications for what we can post on social media in the future."

"We also note the positive steps which the likes of Facebook have taken since the Voller case first started which now allow publishers to switch off comments on stories."

Facebook has yet to respond.

Voller's lawyers welcomed the ruling.

"This is a historic step forward in achieved justice for Dylan and also in protecting individuals, especially those who are in a vulnerable position, from being the subject of unmitigated social media attacks."

"This decision put responsibility where it should be, on media companies with huge resources, to monitor public comments in circumstances where they know there is a strong likelihood of an individual being defamed."

This High Court decision validates two lower court rulings that surrounded the question of liability.

It has been previously ruled that people could be held liable for continued publication of defamatory statements on controlled platforms, but only after becoming aware of the comments.