Australian media outlets are calling on the government to update legislation after the High Court’s ruling which found publishers are liable for third-party comments on social media pages.
The decision, against The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and Sky News, allows former youth detention detainee Dylan Voller to continue with proceedings to sue the media outlets for comments on Facebook pages which he claims are defamatory.
News Corp Australia executive chairman Michael Miller urges the federal government to update legislation around defamation.
“The decision by the High Court in the Voller case is 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,” Miller says.
“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.”
The government is working on updating defamation laws in Australia. In March, the Attorneys General released a discussion paper for the Stage 2 Review of the Model Defamation Provisions which addresses the issue of “internet intermediary liability in defamation for the publication of third-party content”.
“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,” a Nine spokesperson says.
“We are hopeful that Stage 2 of the Review of the Model Defamation Provisions will take account of the High Court’s decision and the consequences of that for publishers.
“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.”
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