Business Law Update: Defamation & Online Comment

Defamation on Business Facebook Pages: User Comments

Do people post comments on your businesses Facebook page? You could be liable for their defamatory comments.

Many businesses use online platforms such as Facebook to promote their business. Some have a comments section where their customers can make comments about their products. If users in response to your content make defamatory comments on your page you may be liable for the publication of the comments.

publication of the comments. This issue has just been determined by the High Court of Australia in the case of media companies which maintain a public Facebook page on which they posted content relating to news stories and provided hyperlinks to those stories on their websites. A number of third-party Facebook users responded to a particular story with comments that were alleged to be defamatory. Proceedings were brought against the media companies alleging they were liable for defamation as the publishers of those comments.

The High Court of Australia has found that the media companies were the publishers of the third-party Facebook user comments. The Court decided that by the creation of a public Facebook page and the posting of content on that page, they facilitated, encouraged and thereby assisted the publication of comments from third-party Facebook users. The media companies were therefore publishers of the third-party comments.

If your business has a Facebook page, or other similar site, and it allows users to make comments, your business may also be liable as the publisher of the comments and you should immediately review your page to assess its content and the ability for others to post comments on your page.