A ruling by the Australian High Court is something all Australian Facebook Page owners need to consider.
The Court has ruled that media organisations are legally responsible for the comments on their social media pages – even those written by others.
This means that an individual who believes they’ve been defamed in the comments can now bypass the person who made the remarks and pursue the page owner instead.
The message from the High Court is that if a company wants a presence on social media, it’s also responsible for moderating the content made in response to its posts.
According to communications law expert Brett Walker from ANU:
“Any organisation which administers a social media account could also be liable for defamation on the same basis – for example, businesses, sporting clubs and community groups”.
This ruling has broad implications for any organisation with a public-facing social media presence. It reinforces the need for active moderation and clear policies around user-generated content.
For more information, see the ABC News coverage of the High Court ruling.
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