In a significant blow for intermediary liability protections in Australia, the country's High Court (which is the country's topmost court) ruled on September 8 that news organisations that post their articles on social media are responsible for comments on those social media sites as though they had published them. "An action for defamation does not require proof of fault. Defamation is a tort of strict liability, in the sense that a defendant may be liable even though no injury to reputation was intended and the defendant acted with reasonable care," the full bench of the High Court decided. "A publisher's liability does not depend upon their knowledge of the defamatory matter which is being communicated or their intention to communicate it." The case is an appeal of Dylan Voller v. Fairfax Media, Nationwide News, and Australian News Channel Pty Ltd.…
