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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: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 01 2021, @07:37PM (1 child)
Australia used to be such a fine country. Really, a swell place.
Now they're instantly sliding into totalitarianism. It's almost like they're running an experiment to see if they can get away with it before doing the same in the US and elsewhere.
I don't like CNN. It's drivel. But they have a right to speak. We all do. Every free person ought to oppose what the Australian government is doing.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 01 2021, @09:01PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_defamation_law [wikipedia.org]
The AU court is just not allowing Fecebook or CNN to claim they both are and are not the publisher, depending on what is more advantageous at the time. They both claim control over what they publish, but try to disclaim responsibility.