CNN has stopped posting articles to Facebook pages in Australia, citing a court finding that publishers are liable for defamation in public comments and Facebook’s reluctance to assist it to restrict comments in the nation.
According to CNN, Facebook denied a request to assist CNN and other publishers in disabling public comments in the country as a result of the verdict.
“We are disappointed that Facebook has once again failed to ensure that its platform is a place for genuine news and meaningful conversation among its users about current events,” a CNN spokeswoman said in a statement.
CNN would continue to publish programming on its own platforms in Australia, she said.
Recent court rulings, according to a Facebook spokeswoman, have demonstrated the need for reform in Australian defamation law, and the firm is looking forward to “more clarity and consistency in this area.”
“While it is not our position to offer legal advice to CNN, we have supplied them with the most up-to-date information on the tools we provide to help publications manage comments,” the spokesman added.
Facebook claims to have a number of tools for publishers and other users to limit who can comment on their postings.
CNN is the first major news organization to remove its Facebook presence in Australia since the country’s high court declared earlier this month that publishers are legally liable for comments made below stories, even if the stories themselves are not libelous.
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