CNN Denies Australians Access To Its Facebook Page Due To Defamation Risk

After an Australian court ruled that publishers are liable for defamation in public comments, CNN has pulled its Facebook presence from the country.

CNN said it is preventing Australians from accessing its Facebook pages, after a court ruled that publishers can be liable for defamation in public comment sections and the social media giant refused to help CNN disable comments in the country.

The move makes CNN, which is owned by AT&T Inc, the first major news organisation to pull its Facebook presence in Australia since the country's High Court ruled this month that publishers were legally responsible for comments posted below stories - even if the stories themselves were not defamatory.

CNN does not feature prominently in Australian media consumption, but the decision could have reverberations across the industry if other outlets follow suit.

A host of global mastheads have boosted their Australian operations in recent years after identifying the country as a growth market. "This is the first domino to fall," said Michael Bradley, managing partner of Marque Lawyers, which works on defamation cases. "Others will follow for sure...mainly media entities who feel they can happily live without the Australian Facebook audience."