[co-author: Kimberly Wittner]
The majority of the High Court of Australia has dismissed the appeal of three media organisations from the decision of the New South Wales Court of Appeal and affirmed they were 'publishers' of comments left by third party users on content 'posted' to their respective Facebook pages.
It is important to note that the judgment of the High Court does not hold the three media organisations liable to the plaintiff Dylan Voller in defamation. Mr Voller has instead now overcome one of the first 'hurdles' plaintiffs face in bringing defamation claims. The decision nevertheless has significant implications for social media users in particular.
Background
Mr Voller claims that Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd, Nationwide News Pty Limited and Australian News Channel Pty Ltd (the Media Organisations) each defamed him, on the basis that they 'published' defamatory comments left by third parties on content 'posted' by the Media Organisations to their respective Facebook pages regarding Mr Voller.
To bring a claim in defamation, one of the first 'threshold' issues Mr Voller must meet is that of 'publication' - that is, did the Media Organisations 'publish' the alleged defamatory comments to a person other than Mr Voller?
The Media Organisations took up this 'threshold' issue, no doubt with a view to 'knocking out' Mr Voller's defamation claims early.
The New South Wales Supreme Court and Court of Appeal each held that the Media Organisations were...
Read Full Story: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/social-media-users-and-operators-beware-8659687/
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