Hong Kong/Brisbane, Australia Media companies in Australia are liable for the comments that Facebook users post under their articles, the country's highest court ruled this week. The decision could have widespread consequences for how Australian publishers interact with their readers on social media.
The High Court of Australia on Wednesday dismissed an argument brought by three major news organizations, which contended that they could not be held responsible for comments that people posted on their Facebook news pages. The news outlets had appealed a lower court ruling. "The appellants' attempt to portray themselves as passive and unwitting victims of Facebook's functionality has an air of unreality," the court wrote.
Good for him. About time that some action was taken.
Good, because a lot of pages post stuff the KNOW is going to cause a sh1t storm in the comments and they do it so their interaction numbers can go up. Will make businesses think twice before posting something 'edgy' or not entirely true etc.