A major British regional news publisher has obtained a potentially significant court ruling clarifying how far they are protected from legal action in the UK over user-generated web content.
The ruling suggests that publishers cannot be held responsible for potentially libellous material posted by website users, so long as it is removed as soon as possible.
Until this ruling, publishers had only been able to assume that this was the case, and Newsquest’s own legal experts say the precise legal position had remained “frustratingly unclear” until this ruling.
UK publishing industry newsletter Holdthefrontpage.co.uk reported that the ruling arose from a case brought against Newsquest by a solicitor, Imran Karim, who was struck off the Law Society roll last year after being found guilty of dishonesty.
An appeal against the Society’s decision to an employment tribunal was rejected.
Mr Karim had sued Newsquest for defamation over a story recording the tribunal’s decision which was carried on certain Newsquest websites under the headline ‘Crooked solicitor spent client money on a Rolex, loose women and drink.’
His case was thrown out after the court found that the story was published contemporaneously, was a substantially fair and accurate account of the tribunal proceedings and therefore qualified for absolute privilege in law.
The web story had also attracted a range of comments from readers using Newsquest’s readers’ comments facility to post their views online, some, though not all of them, critical of Mr Karim.
As soon as Newsquest received the legal claim from Mr Karim, the readers’ comments were removed from the websites concerned.
Mr Justice Eady decided that Newsquest had fulfilled the conditions for protection as the comments had been posted directly to the sites by third party contributors without intervention by Newsquest, and that they had acted expeditiously to remove access to the material.
Newsquest’s head of legal, Simon Westrop, said: “We are grateful for a very clear judgment from the court which, in our view, is supportive of free expression on the internet.
“It should help website operators in similar circumstances to understand their responsibilities as regards the hosting of user-generated content, with the assurance that the law offers protection if they act correctly.”
Newsquest is the UK’s second largest regional newspaper, magazine, trade publication and website publisher, with more than 6,000 employees. It is a subsidiary of the American Gannett Corporation, which counts among its portfolio USA Today, 23 American TV stations, and more than 130 American websites. Its UK operations encompass more than 200 newspapers, magazines and trade publications, and more than 160 websites.
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