[ti:Australian Court: Media Companies Responsible for Comments on their Facebook Pages]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]Australia's highest court has ruled against
[00:03.60]some major news media companies
[00:06.24]in a case about comments on their social media pages.
[00:11.92]The court decided that the companies
[00:14.48]are legally responsible for comments
[00:17.36]because they are the publishers of their pages.
[00:22.36]The decision is an important win for Dylan Voller.
[00:27.44]He is seeking legal action against the media companies.
[00:32.96]As a youth, Voller was placed in a detention center
[00:37.28]in Australia's Northern Territory.
[00:41.64]His treatment while there was the center of a 2016 documentary film.
[00:49.36]The film led to a deeper investigation
[00:52.60]into the mistreatment of young prisoners in Australia.
[00:58.04]Several news organizations posted pictures of Voller
[01:02.24]on social media when the film came out.
[01:06.72]One showed him tied to a chair with a covering over his head.
[01:12.40]Many Facebook users posted comments about Voller
[01:16.96]on those companies' social media pages.
[01:21.40]As a result, Voller wants to sue several Australian media companies.
[01:29.56]The case has been held up by a separate legal dispute
[01:33.36]over whether the companies were the publishers of users' comments.
[01:39.56]The High Court found that the media groups had permitted
[01:43.68]and urged comments from Facebook users
[01:46.92]by setting up a public Facebook page and posting content.
[01:53.08]The judges said it did not matter
[01:55.32]that the companies deleted the comments later.
[01:59.96]A spokesperson for Australia's Nine Network,
[02:03.52]one of the companies involved, said,
[02:06.24]"We are obviously disappointed with the outcome
[02:10.08]as it will have ramifications
[02:12.20]for what we can post on social media in the future."
[02:17.64]Peter O'Brien is Voller's lawyer.
[02:21.24]He told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
[02:24.64]that Voller is relieved the long legal fight, is over.
[02:30.60]"People who might be vulnerable to social media mob attacks
[02:34.84]- they are protected," he said.
[02:38.44]The High Court decision
[02:40.32]now permits Voller to continue his legal action
[02:44.04]against newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald,
[02:47.60]The Australian and others.
[02:51.24]The case will continue later
[02:53.48]in the New South Wales state Supreme Court.
[02:57.56]A trial there will decide
[02:59.72]whether the Facebook comments truly defamed Voller.
[03:05.28]I'm Jonathan Evans.
[03:07.64]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM