Media outlets found liable for readers’ Facebook comments in first round of landmark Dylan Voller defamation case
Dylan Voller, a former Don Dale youth detainee, has won the first round of a landmark defamation case against The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Sky News, The Centralian Advocate, and The Bolt Report. The question asked in today’s hearing was whether these outlets legally ‘published’ allegedly defamatory comments made on their public Facebook pages. Justice Stephen Rothman answered with a definitive “yes”, and, in doing so, ruled that media outlets can be sued for readers’ Facebook comments.
News Corp denounced the “ridiculous” decision, calling for urgent defamation law reform and flagging its intention to appeal. A Sydney Morning Herald spokesperson also said it was “considering its options” given “the implications the ruling may have on the industry”.
Dylan Voller on an episode of ABC’s Q&A
yowzer
trkulja v google
I’m not sure where the judge got his advice from but you can’t pre-moderate or even turn off comments on Facebook posts that are made on public Facebook pages.
You can only block people from making their own post on your page, or hide/delete comments on posts after they have been made.
Comment sections on owner websites usually have many more controls and most use pre-moderation to filter out nasty, abusive, spammy or defamatory content.
In light of this will be interesting if Australian publishers press Facebook for more control over comments; hire more moderators or just stop posting about controversial news.
Why is it “ridiculous” for media outlets to take responsibility for reader comments published on pages which they manage? Publishers can moderate/approve/ not approve comments on their FB pages so can, and should, take responsibility for comments that get posted. In the same way, publishers are also responsible for letters to the editor which they vet and choose to publish
You can delete comments. But not Reviews. You have to take the whole page down, but can’t take an individual comment off reviews. So FB needs to make this more flexible.
Same as UK law
Beyond the publishers social or traditional, we should all ask ourselves ‘how is what I am about to say going to positively impact the audience, reader, viewer and individual’ and honestly answer that question. We are too quick to ‘speak’ these days without thinking about the impact our words can have on other people. We cannot point the finger at social or traditional media, without first turning that finger towards ourselves. Stay positive and always show compassion and kindness, resist the urge to judge.
I’m guessing they mean put a list of very common words into the profanity filter so all comments are automatically hidden, then someone manually approves the ok ones. Would be a total pain and need a lot more moderators (and I can’t imagine news companies hiring people here after all the redundancies, guessing that would go offshore somewhere).
Agree, if you are going to utilise free software to extend your offering and brand then be responsible and publish the comments. it isn’t hard at all. It’s man power, just like in a news room…
Still baffles me that Facebook remains teflon across all these issues. Publishers should be liable but so should Facebook and any other hosting platform – they can facilitate the illegal broadcasting of a live MMA fight, the live massacre of kiwi worshippers but it was the people who posted or shared found to be liable.
Absolutely correct. As the print media screams at being caught in an aspect of the Brave New World they’re struggling with, it is well worth reflecting that the old letter-to-the-editor forms exactly the same function as an FB comment about a story on a media FB page. And the papers’ all know to their cost what letting through a libel in a letter can lead to. So Grow up, and catch up: the world has changed and its needs quick thinking and – in this case – more people. Good.
The fact that the rest of the world hasn’t reached this legal situation is neither here nor there – it will very soon be used as a precedent in quite a few countries.
And indeed Facebook might wake up and update its thinking too.
[Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy]
Print media are using FB to drive getting more subs, they can be liable for the comments.