High Court of Australia
HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA
KIEFEL CJ,
GAGELER, KEANE, GORDON, EDELMAN, STEWARD AND GLEESON JJ
S236/2020
FAIRFAX MEDIA PUBLICATIONS PTY LTD APPELLANT
AND
DYLAN VOLLER RESPONDENT
S237/2020
NATIONWIDE NEWS PTY LIMITED APPELLANT
AND
DYLAN VOLLER RESPONDENT
S238/2020
AUSTRALIAN NEWS CHANNEL PTY LTD APPELLANT
AND
DYLAN VOLLER RESPONDENT
Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Voller
Nationwide News Pty Limited v Voller
Australian News Channel Pty Ltd v Voller
[2021] HCA 27
Date of Hearing: 18 May 2021
Date of Judgment: 8 September 2021
S236/2020, S237/2020 & S238/2020
ORDER
In each matter:
Appeal dismissed with costs.
On appeal from the Supreme Court of New South Wales
Representation
N J Young QC and P D Herzfeld SC with L E Barnett for the appellant in each matter (instructed by Ashurst)
P W J Gray SC with R W Potter SC and L A R Goodchild for the respondent in each matter (instructed by O'Brien Criminal and Civil Solicitors)
Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law Reports.
CATCHWORDS
Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Voller
Nationwide News Pty Limited v Voller
Australian News Channel Pty Ltd v Voller
Defamation – Publication – Where appellants were media companies – Where each appellant created, operated and maintained public Facebook page – Where each appellant created posts on Facebook page hyperlinking to news stories referring to respondent – Where third-party Facebook users left "comments" on appellants' posts – Where comments alleged to be defamatory of respondent – Whether appellants "publishers" of comments – Whether intention to communicate defamatory matter necessary for appellants to be publishers.
Words and phrases – "communication of defamatory matter to a third party", "defamation", "digital newspaper or broadcast", "encouraged and facilitated", "Facebook comments", "Facebook page", "innocent dissemination", "intention to publish defamatory matter", "internet platform providers", "participation", "participation in the process", "publication", "publisher", "rebuttable presumption of publication", "strict liability", "third party".
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