Many businesses, organisations and community groups run a social media page to connect with their audience, share news and build engagement. Far fewer realise that the comments other people leave on those pages can become the page owner’s legal problem. If you create or manage a public page, it pays to understand what the law currently expects of you. This article explains the key responsibilities in plain English so you can manage your pages with confidence.

When Does a Page Administrator Become a “Publisher”?

The rapid rise of social media over the past two decades has brought online conduct, including bullying and other harmful behaviour, into sharper legal focus, and the law in this space continues to evolve.

As the law currently stands, administrators of Facebook pages, groups and other interactive social media pages should treat third-party comments as a legal risk, not merely as user-generated material. The central principle is this: a page administrator may be a “publisher” of comments posted by others where the administrator creates or operates the page, posts content, and thereby facilitates or encourages public comments.

Defamation Liability and the Voller Decision

The High Court in Fairfax Media Publications Pty Ltd v Voller confirmed that administrators of public Facebook pages can be publishers of third-party comments for defamation purposes, even if they did not write the comments and did not know they were defamatory when posted. The majority found that operating a public page and posting material that allowed comments was sufficient participation in communicating those comments.

This principle is not confined to media companies. It is relevant to businesses, organisations, community pages and other public social media forums, and potentially to platforms beyond Facebook where public comments are enabled. A business may therefore be sued if a third party posts a defamatory comment about an individual or a corporation on the business’s page.

A claimant must still establish the usual elements of defamation, including publication, identification, defamatory meaning and, under the reformed uniform defamation laws, serious harm. In NSW, a prospective plaintiff must generally issue a concerns notice before commencing proceedings, which gives the publisher an opportunity to make amends.

Defences and Recent Reforms

Being a “publisher” does not automatically mean you will be held liable. Defences may be available depending on the facts, including innocent dissemination, truth, honest opinion, privilege or public interest.

Since 2024, NSW and other jurisdictions have introduced further digital intermediary reforms. These may assist some administrators or online forum operators in defined circumstances, particularly where complaint-handling and prompt removal or access-prevention mechanisms are in place. However, those protections do not remove the practical need for active moderation.

Other Legal Risks to Be Aware Of

Social media administrators may also face exposure under other laws. For example, misleading customer comments or testimonials left on a business page may create risk under the Australian Consumer Law if the business becomes aware of them and leaves them online. Offensive, discriminatory, vilifying, threatening or unlawful material may attract regulatory, employment, platform or criminal consequences, depending on the content.

It is worth keeping this in perspective. Most of these behaviours are not unique to social media or the internet. The same conduct can and does occur just as often in everyday life. What has changed is that the law is adapting to remove the veil of anonymity that the internet historically made possible.

Practical Steps for Page Administrators

In practical terms, a social media page cannot be treated as “set and forget”. Businesses obtain a commercial benefit from public engagement, and they may bear legal consequences for the content they facilitate.

To manage that risk, administrators should:

• monitor comments regularly;
• remove, hide or restrict defamatory, misleading or unlawful comments promptly;
• disable comments on high-risk posts where appropriate;
• maintain clear house rules and moderation policies;
• train staff who have page access;
• preserve records of complaints, moderation decisions and removals.

Get Advice Before a Comment Becomes a Claim

If you are unsure about your exposure as a page administrator, or you have received a concerns notice or complaint about content on one of your pages, it is worth getting advice early. Sensible moderation practices put in place now can prevent a far more difficult problem later.

Get in touch to discuss your situation and our experienced team will help you understand your responsibilities and protect your business.