Will The Comments Section Become A Thing Of The Past?

High Court in "Voller" rules media companies liable for defamatory statements made by third party users in Facebook comments section

Summary

Social media forums are potentially liable for defamatory comments posted by third parties, the High Court has held.

In a 5:2 majority, the High Court of Australia (High Court) in Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Voller [2021] HCA 27, ruled that media companies had facilitated, encouraged and thereby assisted the posting of comments by third-party Facebook users, and therefore were rendered publishers of those comments. The Court rejected the media companies' arguments that a person must intend to publish the defamatory matter, stating that "any act of participation in the communication of defamatory matter to a third party is sufficient to make a defendant a publisher".¹