You can Sue The Media Over Facebook Comments From Readers

Npnews24 online, Canberra: Former youth detainee Dylan Voller is suing News corp, Fairfax Media and sky news over comments on their Facebook page. 

To the preliminary question of ‘Whether Voller has established that the companies could be regarded as the publisher of the comments by the third party? The answer Judge Stephen Rothman give was a YES.

Voller, whose mistreatment in the Don Dale youth detention center sparked a 2016 royal commission, Sydney Morning Herald, Sky News Australia and Fairfax Media.

The decision could have wide-range ramification for how media companies use social media.

The New South Wales supreme court lawsuit relates to comments made about him by members of the public on Facebook posts, published in 2016 and 2017, which he alleges carry false and defamatory imputation.