As one of Australia’s fastest-growing and best sources of independent journalism, The New Daily has a strong presence on social media through its official channels, staff accounts, and readers.

The New Daily believes social media offers a platform for disseminating news and opinion, as well fostering fair and respectful debate on the events of the day.

Our definition of common usage and the understanding of how we interact with our readers via social media was put in question after a recent High Court ruling found that publishers are liable for defamatory comments posted on their posts by third-party users. As a result, The New Daily has been forced to reassess its relationship with its readers who use social media.

To continue to facilitate comment on social media – particularly on Facebook and Instagram – in an open and legally responsible manner, The New Daily has taken the following steps:

• For posts we consider likely to attract potentially defamatory comments, we ensure the settings only allow pages we follow to comment.
• Comments on all other posts that will potentially attract controversy are turned off at the end of the working day to avoid the need for overnight or weekend moderating.
• The New Daily has submitted a list of words and phrases on Facebook and Instagram that are automatically screened by the platform. User comments that include these terms will be automatically hidden.
• Facebook and Instagram comments will be monitored by The New Daily’s social media manager during the working day, from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Outside of this period, comments on potentially sensitive posts will be closed.
• Any comments that are deemed highly offensive, defamatory, incite harm or violence, or are otherwise of an antisocial nature will be removed.
• The social media manager may choose to close the comments on a post early if it is attracting a large number of questionable comments before the end of the working day.

When a comments section is closed, a link to The New Daily’s social media policy will be attached.

Banning or blocking users

The New Daily reserves the right to block or ban any user from its social media platforms if their comments are deemed antisocial.

When a user is blocked or banned, the social media manager will provide the support team with an example of their antisocial behaviour.

The user does not need to be issued a warning before being blocked or banned, nor do they need to be informed that this has taken place. The social media manager or support team can reinstate or unblock a user at their own discretion, but are under no obligation to do so.

Posting controversial content

As a result of a recent High Court ruling which holds the publisher responsible for defamatory comments made on a publisher’s post by third-party users, The New Daily reserves the right to close all comments on certain posts that we believe are particularly likely to result in defamatory comments.

Conflict resolution

If users feel they have been defamed, made to feel unsafe, or offended by a post by The New Daily or a comment by another user, the matter should be raised with the support team at as soon as possible.

The New Daily will take appropriate and reasonable action to address the situation as quickly as possible in accordance with our social media policy.

Legal recourse should not be taken by the user until The New Daily’s support staff have been contacted and a reasonable amount of response time given.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this policy, please contact The New Daily at [email protected] and your email will be forwarded to the relevant staff member.

Definitions

Ban/block: Restricting a user’s access to The New Daily’s profile, posts, and the comments section on social media platforms.

Closed comments: Restricting comments on a post from any user other than The New Daily.

Comments: Words or images shared in the comments section of a post.

Delete: Removing a post or comment fully from the social media platform.

Hidden: Making a comment unviewable by anyone other than the user and the social media admin.

Platform: The individual social media website Post: a link, image, or text posted to The New Daily’s social media platforms by a staff member.

Social media: Unless a platform is named, social media refers to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

User: A third-party social media profile that is not owned by The New Daily. This can be an individual user or a page.