About the event

Please note bookings have now closed.
Please note bookings close 1 hour before the webinar.

This session is being delivered via Webinar Only.

The Court of Appeal in a decision handed down on 17 June 2021 (Defteros v Google LLC [2021] VSCA 167), confirmed that search engines can be publishers of defamatory content by providing links to defamatory webpages even where the search results themselves were not defamatory. In Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd & Ors. v Voller [2021] HCA 27, handed down on 8 September 2021, the majority of the High Court found that the appellants were the publishers of third-party Facebook user comments. What does this mean for defamation law in Australia? What about the innocent dissemination defence in Australia? What does this mean for anyone who creates a hyperlink or allows comments from third parties on a blog? Are these cases consistent with Webb v Bloch (1928) 41 CLR 331?

The panel will be considering these common law developments in the context of defamation reform currently underway in Australia, specifically regarding the liability of internet intermediaries for defamatory material published online by third-party users and the concerns around protecting individuals as we move to our new digital future.

Level: General

This seminar is in partnership with the Digital Law Association: