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from the glad-we-are-not-hosted-down-under dept.
CNN shut down its Facebook page in Australia after court liability ruling:
CNN shut down its Facebook page in Australia on Wednesday, after an Australian court ruled that media outlets are liable for defamatory user-generated comments.
[...] The deteriorating effects of the court's ruling on online speech in Australia serve as a warning of what's to come if U.S. lawmakers succeed in their efforts to weakening protections against such legal decisions in the United States.
[...] The court's ruling previews the grim future in store if U.S. politicians get their way and dismantle Section 230, the keystone U.S. law that shields websites from liability over user-generated content. Without it, social media platforms and any other website with user-generated content—especially those without Facebook's deep pockets—would likely die. Both Republicans and Democrats, President Joe Biden included, would like it dismantled.
Should the person doing the defaming be liable, or the owner of the page the defamation is posted on be liable?
(Score: 3, Troll) by MostCynical on Friday October 01 2021, @05:53AM (17 children)
...and nothing of value was lost.
Did anyone actually notice?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday October 01 2021, @05:59AM (6 children)
I'm sure that 'Strayans are rejoicing. Facebook put a huge crimp in the government's ability to spy on people when they shut down.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 01 2021, @06:08AM (5 children)
Hi from Australia.
CNN who? They were the ones who covered the Bush Snr invasion of Iraq 30 years ago, I believe.
CNN have ZERO presence in Australia, so them 'leaving' is farcical.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Runaway1956 on Friday October 01 2021, @06:16AM
Yeah, but FACEBOOK!! They'll be folding soon, because they can't police everyone all the time.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 01 2021, @06:24AM (2 children)
You're right. They were the shizzle in the 90s until Turner sold out. Interesting to hear about their irrelevance in Oz. Does RT have greater reach there?
Also interesting to hear that courts are making decisions. They let judges travel more than 5 km from home?
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday October 01 2021, @08:56AM
closest Australians get to RT is Euronews [wikipedia.org] or Al Jazeera [wikipedia.org] on FetchTV [wikipedia.org]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 01 2021, @03:46PM
Rupert Murdoch controls most of the media in AU. So, AU news sources are basically, the Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment as headed up by Joseph Goebbels. With Russia's move hard right, I guess you could say AU has something like RT.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 01 2021, @10:48AM
Yeah this must be a real good news to you. Now bend over and take some more!
(Score: 5, Interesting) by choose another one on Friday October 01 2021, @09:56AM (1 child)
Actually, problem is this:
Post anything public on social media, anywhere, ever? If someone comments on your post and that comment is defamatory, YOU are now liable as a publisher.
It probably even applies if you comment and someone replies to your comment. And now for something defamatory... Oopsie, sorry for your loss.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 01 2021, @12:32PM
It also applies to the hoster of the site, to the owners of Internet infrastructure that the "defamatory" IP packets went through, and to the makers of those servers, the human participants' computers, routers along the way, and makers of all the parts inside those, and developers of the software, and the shops that sold the stuff.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday October 01 2021, @02:16PM (1 child)
This time.
What about next time when something valuable is lost?
If you think a fertilized egg is a child but an immigrant child is not, please don't pretend your concerns are religious
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 02 2021, @05:11PM
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Friday October 01 2021, @03:56PM (2 children)
Sure, it doesn't matter because it doesn't impact you personally....
But know this: the minute a law like that passes here I'm going to personally track down all the websites you like, spam the crap out of them, and get them shut down.
Is something of value being lost now?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MostCynical on Friday October 01 2021, @09:25PM (1 child)
if every corporate facebook page dried up, and it was just people chatting and posting pictures of their children, it would be a far nicer place.
as it is is, the whole place is infested with shills and cranks with agendas..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Saturday October 02 2021, @03:31PM
Nothing I can see in the (reporting of the) judgement limits liability to corporate pages, it is at best limited to any "owner" of a "social media page".
I noted the following in the judgement, p68 ( https://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/downloadPdf/2021/HCA/27 [hcourt.gov.au] ):
This is in one of the dissenting opinions, ie. the losing arguments. Ergo it _is_ so, and therefore ALL facebook page owners publishers of third party comments, and liable for them. In Australia.
If you successfully sue the provider of public toilets for graffiti on the walls, a toilet is lost.
If it keeps happening, then sooner or later no one has anywhere to pee when they are out.
And nothing of value is lost ?
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday October 02 2021, @01:35PM (2 children)
Hmm... saw another anti-Facebook post in another thread that was also modded "troll" but obviously wasn't a troll at all. Is Zuckerberg on S/N now?
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 02 2021, @05:14PM
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday October 02 2021, @07:10PM
strangely, I wasn't even commenting on FB, just CNN's presence on FB, in Australia, where CNN isn't 'mainstream'
Businesses seem to have simple logic: People are using The Internet, so we need a website/People are using FB, so we need a FB page/People are using Instagram, so we need a presence....
So many businesses have pages that are, at best, feeding some sales, thereby proving "the platform" is "necessary"
Media companies only survive on ratings/clicks - so they self-define.. what is necessary, by chasing clicks..
I doubt CNN got many, so this ruling was just an excuse to close one page, being produced for a country that didn't care.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex