In a recent case against regional newspaper publisher, Newsquest Media Group, the High Court upheld the publisher’s right not to be responsible for comments posted by users on an online article because it had acted quickly in taking them down.

The article had been published on a number of websites hosted by Newsquest. It reported on a Law Society hearing at which solicitor, Imran Karim, was barred from practising because he had misused client money to fund an extravagant lifestyle.

The article attracted a number of comments on bulletin boards. Newsquest did not monitor the boards before the messages were published and, some months later, Karim filed a libel claim against Newsquest which then quickly removed the article and the comments attached to it.

Newsquest argued that it was not liable for the comments on the bulletin boards because it had taken them down as soon as the complaint about them was received and could therefore benefit from the defence under Regulation 19 of the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive Regulations) 2002. Regulation 19 gives online publishers immunity from liability for unlawful material that they host but do not produce, providing that they do not have any knowledge of the unlawful information and act expeditiously to remove it when they become aware of its unlawfulness.

The High Court agreed that Newquest was entitled to rely upon the defence in Regulation 19 in respect of the comments on the article and also struck out the claim that the article itself was libellous.

This case highlights how important it is for website operators to take down comments immediately on receiving complaints about them. It also shows the advantage of not moderating message boards as this allows a website operator to argue that they have no knowledge of any unlawful information posted to their site and are therefore able to rely on the defence in Regulation 19.

If you would like advice on any aspect of E-Commerce law, please contact Andrea Curtis on 01245 453822 or e-mail andrea.curtis@birkettlong.co.uk.