Like it or not – liability for posts on a corporate Facebook page is a reality

The emergence of social media as a medium for corporate advertising and promotion has been widely embraced by the business community. In what will be, for many, a sobering determination by the Advertising Standards Board (ASB), a company's Facebook page has been recognised as being an advertising or marketing communication within the meaning of the Australian Association of National Advertisers' (AANA) Advertiser Code of Ethics (Code). Importantly, in a finding that echoes the view expressed by the Federal Court in Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Allergy Pathway Pty Ltd (No 2) [2011] FCA 74, that a company can be liable for the posts of "friends" on its Facebook page, the ASB also found that "the Code applies to the content generated by the advertisers as well as material or comments posted by users or friends."