The Full case was expected to impact all Facebook page admins, with several organizations considering allowing comments, given the increased legal risk. Meanwhile, says Dr. Bosland, community groups are in a difficult situation. Yes, if you know who created the group. If you only know your opponent`s online alias, a trial is always possible, only a few more steps are needed. Community group administrator received defamation threat for posts and comments about Western Australian mayor I read that a senior judicial official was asking judges, police and victims` groups for examples of posts, discussions and tweets that compromised a process or an individual. Facebook is a legal platform and what you write about it has legal consequences, group admins have similar responsibilities to editors of a newspaper. Facebook newsgroup administrators can be held legally responsible for what is written on the websites they manage. “These groups are set up to allow people to communicate with each other. Kozak hinted to Guardian Australia that he was willing to fight, saying it had not been proven that he was responsible for the content posted in the group, although the site lists him as one of the administrators. In Brisbane, Sarah MacKenzie heard the news. As a trustee of the neighborhood`s 20,000-member 4069 Community and Surround Facebook group, she regularly deletes posts with dashcam photos of “bad drivers” or surveillance cameras of suspected thieves. “As a director of the group, you have a clear legal responsibility for the material published in the group,” the letter reads.

“We refer you to Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v. Voller; Nationwide News Pty Limited v. Voller; Australian News Channel Pty Ltd v Full [2021] HCA, in which the High Court of Australia ruled that anyone running a social media account can be held liable for defamatory comments posted on social media accounts. Unlike the media or parliamentarians, many may not even be aware of their new legal risk. The letter refers to three messages from the group — two photos from Piffareetti`s private Facebook profile from a private party — and one of the comments in response to a post on the page. It is alleged that these messages defamed Piffaretti by saying that they had tried to humiliate and ridicule the mayor and implied that she was unfit for the role. This case focuses on the media, but the decision could extend to community group administrators, says Dr. Bosland. Here are some things you can do to protect yourself, your co-moderators and members of Facebook groups: In other words, this is the kind of case you`d expect from disputes that take place in a community Facebook group. In fact, the decision applies not only to the directors of community groups, but also to the full members of those groups.

A Perth law firm cited the Australian Supreme Court`s decision in the Voller case in a letter asking an administrator of a Facebook community group to remove allegedly defamatory comments on his page. Guardian Australia believes this is not the first contact Yorke has made with a Facebook group admin regarding comments on the site. Yorke said Facebook`s own processes for dealing with the disputed material were “cumbersome and time-consuming.” He said most site or group administrators acted “in good faith” and immediately removed allegedly defamatory content when it was handled. The change coincided with the platform, which urged users to join groups as part of its focus on “meaningful communities.” Admins are NOT responsible for what is written here” is something I see in group rules. The law says what is legally responsible, and simply saying you are not responsible is not enough. Then came the pandemic, and seven months later, Facebook reported that online groups had seen a significant increase in engagement. “I think the people who lead these groups might start to question the risk-reward ratio.” “If it is used as a platform for defamation or damage, then it will be an ongoing legal risk.” Maybe this sounds familiar: you and some like-minded people want to exchange ideas on a certain topic and therefore create a Facebook group. A few clicks later, and voila: group created! Sounds simple enough, yes? If it`s just you and your friends or family members, it could be. However, once you start expanding the group to be more public, your role as administrator or moderator becomes more complicated. Defending litigation costs about $300 an hour, it doesn`t take long for your lawyers` fees to reach tens of thousands of dollars. In Tamiz v. Google Inc., the Court of Appeal found that it could be concluded that once the host becomes aware of defamatory material, or if, through due diligence, the host knows that the material is defamatory, the host becomes liable for further publication of the material if it does not remove it.

However, before the “notification”, the host is not considered the publisher. “If you`re the admin of a very active neighborhood group, you could be a third-party comment editor,” he says. The letter was sent by Crawford Yorke – a director of Loughton Yorke lawyers – for Bayswater City Council Mayor Filomena Piffaretti to James Kozak, a trustee of a local community group with more than 200 members. I also understand that the police have recently spoken to some administrators in a number of focus groups and have expressed concerns about certain messages. In a “traditional” lawsuit against the “author” of a defamatory statement and/or a person who posted it, it will usually be relatively easy to answer the question of responsibility for the publication, i.e. who wrote or uttered it. However, it can be difficult to understand who is legally responsible for material posted online due to the ease of hiding identity. If you can identify them, is it possible to prosecute them? Or is it better to seek damages from an accidental publisher who did not remove the offending statement? If you would like to discuss how you currently manage your social media presence or discuss reputation management issues, please contact Amy Callahan-Page. Of course, there is some proportionality to consider when managing social media groups/pages, and a one-size-fits-all approach does not apply. However, adopting some or all of the above best practices will help limit the risk of being involved in a potential defamation lawsuit through no fault of your own. If you want to sue the creator of a Facebook group for defamation, Kelly Warner Law can answer your questions. Contact us to start the conversation.

Although the Court`s reasoning in the Tamiz case provides general guidance, the situation is still relatively unclear, particularly for organisations acting as group/page administrators. For example, a business that actively moderates its Facebook group or page (e.g., as an administrator) is more likely to be classified as a publisher faster than a business that doesn`t because it is more likely to know, or reasonably should know, that a post is defamatory. One lady wrote a negative review, the company took action against her, she explained that she had almost $100,000 in legal fees out of her own pocket and that the case had not even been taken to court at that time.