We know that Australia’s justice system has no time for Facebook, especially following its ruling that tech companies should pay for the news published on its platform in the country. Now, a new ruling by the Australian High Court will see that news sites are liable for any defamatory user Facebook comments that appear below their content on Facebook.
This comes as part of a long-running defamation case against a number of news outlets in the country by a person named Dylan Voller. In 2016, multiple news sites reported on a story that included pretty shocking images of Voller being detained in a detention centre.
These stories were posted on Facebook, as one does, and “…Voller sued three of these companies, arguing that comments left on their Facebook pages in reaction to these stories were defamatory, and that, by inviting these comments, the news outlets were legally their publishers,” The Verge details.
Keep your Facebook comments to yourself
Anyway, now the High Court decided that news outlets are essentially responsible for anything commented below an article post on Facebook as if the media outlet published it themselves. Which is kind of whack in itself.
David Rolph, a professor of law at the University of Sydney, said the ruling “may mean anyone who runs a social media page can theoretically be sued over disparaging comments posted by readers or random group members — even if you aren’t aware of the comment,” according to The Verge.
The new ruling essentially states that “… media companies are indeed the ‘publishers’ of third-party Facebook comments and can be held legally responsible for their content.” Of course, the one affected would still have to prove that the comments are, in fact, defamatory.
It’ll be interesting what the global knock-on effect would be following this ruling — as Australia has recently been the forerunner in controversial social media laws. Let’s wait and see.