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发帖数: 2001 | 1 SYDNEY, Sept 29 (Reuters) - CNN said it is preventing Australians from
accessing its Facebook Inc (FB.O) pages after a court ruled that publishers
can be liable for defamation in public comment sections and the social media
firm refused to help it disable comments in the country.
The move makes CNN, which is owned by AT&T Inc (T.N), the first major news
organisation to pull its Facebook presence in Australia since the country's
highest court ruled this month that publishers were legally responsible for
comments posted below articles - even if the articles themselves were not
defamatory.
The ruling has come under much fire with defamation lawyers accusing
Australia of not keeping up with technological change and noting the
contrast with the United States and Britain where laws largely protect
publishers from any fallout from comments posted online.
Australia is currently reviewing its defamation laws but in the meantime,
other global news organisations, especially those that feel they can easily
live without an Australian Facebook audience, are likely to follow CNN's
lead, the lawyers said.
"This is the first domino to fall," said Michael Bradley, managing partner
of Marque Lawyers.
For Australian media companies, the ruling also adds a layer of complication
to their relationship with Facebook, just as many of them begin to benefit
from a new law that forces the social media company to pay for links to
their content.
CNN's main Facebook page showed an error message when accessed from
Australia on Wednesday. The U.S. news organisation said Facebook declined a
request to help it and other publishers disable public comments in the
country following the ruling, which was made during an ongoing defamation
lawsuit.
"We are disappointed that Facebook, once again, has failed to ensure its
platform is a place for credible journalism and productive dialogue around
current events among its users," a CNN spokeswoman said in a statement.
A Facebook spokesperson said recent court decisions had shown the need for
reform in Australian defamation law and the company looked forward to "
greater clarity and certainty in this area". |
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