Australian defamation law has undergone a sustained period of reform, driven by the challenges of digital publication. Traditionally developed for newspapers, magazines, and broadcasters, the law has been increasingly tested by social media platforms, online forums, and user-generated content. Courts and legislators have been forced to confront whether operators of online systems – search engines, forums, and hosting services – can be treated as publishers, and how liability

In a significant intellectual-property dispute, Australian News Channel Pty Ltd (ANC), a subsidiary of News Corp Australia and operator of Sky News Australia, commenced proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against media-monitoring service provider Isentia Pty Ltd. Background The case arose from the distribution, as alleged by ANC, of ANC’s broadcast and digital content to Commonwealth and State government clients. In plain terms, ANC contended that Isentia collected

The litigation that came to be known as Voller v Nationwide News Pty Ltd arose out of circumstances that were already deeply confronting. Dylan Voller was a former youth detainee whose treatment in detention was exposed in the ABC Four Corners program investigation, Australia’s Shame. The broadcast revealed images and practices that shocked the public and led directly to a Royal Commission into youth detention in the Northern Territory. background Following the broadcast, Mr