I’m certain this case will continue to be discussed in the media and academia and will continue to shape society’s understanding of the complexities of intimate partner violence.
What appears to be normal social media activity exposes a much darker reality: fan culture often leads to deeply harmful conversations shaping how people address and redress violence.
The government’s plan to make social media companies hand over trolls’ details aims to make it easier for victims to sue their harassers for defamation. But this conflates two very different concepts.
Alex Jones lost a defamation suit by Sandy Hook parents for falsely claiming they helped fake the murders of their children. But the judgment doesn’t deal with important First Amendment questions.
Holding social media companies to account for harmful content on their sites is legally difficult, due to two US laws that protects them from defamation penalties internationally.
Recent changes to defamation laws may give political commentators more room to manoeuvre, but up-and-coming satirists will still face challenges to safely practice their craft.
Eddie Clark, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Critics say only links to real or threatened violence should justify the proposed criminalisation of hate speech. But New Zealand law already regulates all kinds of non-violent speech.
Anti-SLAPP law allows cases to be dismissed if they relate to public interest speech unless the case has merit and proceeding is in the public interest.
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Anti-SLAPP laws are useful, and we need more of them across the country. They allow certain lawsuits to be dismissed at an early stage if they relate to public interest speech.
In walking away from his defamation action against the ABC, cabinet minister Christian Porter has opened a fresh round in the battle over the allegation of historical rape against him by a now-deceased woman.
It’s gospel for First Amendment advocates that lawsuits against news organizations chill freedom of the press. But in an era of rampant misinformation, such legal actions may be more accepted.
Porter claims even though he wasn’t named in the ABC article, he was easily identifiable to many Australians. For the ABC, the defences to defamation are notoriously difficult to establish.
The media treated the rape allegation against Porter as a political story and watched it play out in the political process — without identifying the attorney-general.
Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young leaves the Federal Court in May, 2019.
AAP Image/Joel Carrett
In 1886, a Victorian judge deplored the disregard given to women’s rights in cases of sexual slander. Today, women are still fighting to protect their reputations and tell their stories.