OREANDA-NEWS. The Supreme Court of Australia ruled that the media are responsible for user comments. By opening pages in social networks, including Facebook, companies distribute, among others, information published by third parties. This was reported by the Associated Press.

The trial began because of defamatory comments to a high-profile material about the conditions of detention of prisoners in prisons in the Northern Territory of Australia. The former prisoner Dylan Voller, whose footage was in this material, sued the media for spreading slander.

The court ruled by a 5-2 majority that by facilitating and encouraging comments, the companies participated in their publication. This decision opens up the possibility of suing media organizations for defamation by former juvenile prisoner Dylan Voller, the Associated Press reports.

In Australia, they are going to start holding social media users accountable for slander in comments. Account owners will be responsible for false messages. Thus, the Supreme Court of the country ruled that a user on whose page slanderous entries appear will be found guilty even if he does not know about the appearance of such a comment.