Reposting Defamatory Content In Australia: Can You Be Sued?

Reposting defamatory content in Australia can create legal liability even if you did not write the original post. Under Australian defamation law, a person may be treated as a publisher if they participate in making defamatory material available to a new audience, including by sharing, reposting, forwarding, screenshotting, embedding, or otherwise republishing content.

A person who republishes defamatory allegations may be sued if the publication identifies another person, conveys defamatory imputations, is communicated to at least one third party, and causes or is likely to cause serious harm to the person’s reputation.

Australian courts have consistently recognised that liability for defamation is not limited to the original author. Cases such as Google LLC v Defteros, Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Voller, Dow Jones v Gutnick, Mickle v Farley, and Rothe v Scott (No 4) demonstrate that the law focuses on participation in publication rather than