New plan to curb online ‘defamation’

MELBOURNE: The Australian government is considering a range of measures that would make social media companies more responsible for defamatory material published on their platforms, Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said yesterday.

“For a long time, they’ve been getting away with not taking any responsibility in relation to content published on their sites,” Mr Fletcher said in an interview on the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Intensifying a debate over the country’s libel and defamation laws, Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday called social media “a coward’s palace”, saying platforms should be treated as publishers when defamatory comments by unidentified people are posted.

Mr Fletcher said the government was looking at that option and the extent of the responsibility in general of platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook when defamatory material was published on their sites. The country’s top court ruled last month that publishers can be held liable for public comments on online forums, which spread alarm among all sectors that engage with the public via social media.