Last updated 10 June 2022

In the case of Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Voller; Nationwide News Pty Limited v Voller; Australian News Channel Pty Ltd v Voller [2021] HCA 27, Mr Voller commenced defamation proceedings against three media companies regarding comments posted by third parties about him on the respective Facebook pages of the media companies. The High Court found that the media companies were publishers of comments made by others on their public Facebook pages. The acts of the media companies in facilitating, encouraging and thereby assisting the posting of comments by Facebook users determined that the media companies were publishers of those comments. Companies cannot rely on lack of knowledge of the material posted (or lack of intention to publish them) on their social media pages to deny that they are responsible for publishing the third-party comments.