Australian Government proposes to shift publication liability from social media page owners to providers with the draft Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill 2021
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The Australian Government has released draft defamation legislation in response to the recent High Court decision of Fairfax Media Publications v Voller, titled the Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill 2021. The proposed law, which will have significant implications for media organisations and digital platforms should it come into force, will change the general law of the tort of defamation in Australia in relation to publication of comments on social media. Australians who maintain and administer social media pages will not be publishers of third-party comments on their pages. Providers of social media services (providers) however, will be deemed to be publishers of those comments.
The Australian Government says that this Bill is intended to facilitate the identification of anonymous commenters and will impose strict obligations upon providers to establish and follow a rigorous defamation complaint handling process if they are to absolve themselves of liability for the publication of defamatory comments on social media pages. Further, providers will now be required to establish a corporate presence in Australia. Stakeholders have been invited to provide any comments on the draft Bill by 21 January 2022.
