Social Media

A judge has ordered a Victoria local councillor to pay a developer $205,000 in damages after finding he was responsible for comments on a community Facebook page he ran that alleged the developer was corrupt.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has dropped a High Court appeal seeking to overturn a Full Court judgment that found a tweet by refugee activist Shane Bazzi labeling him a “rape apologist” was not defamatory.

The Daily Mail is appealing a judge’s decision to award Nine sports presenter Erin Molan $150,000 over an article concerning an on-air remark she made about the pronunciation of National Rugby League Polynesian player names.

Nine sports presenter Erin Molan has won a substantial payout from the Daily Mail over an article concerning an on-air remark she made about the pronunciation of National Rugby League Polynesian player names, despite failing to prove the story painted her as a racist.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has questioned a costs agreement between refugee activist Shane Bazzi and his solicitors in a defamation dispute, raising the possibility that “sham bills” may have been provided to the court to assess the costs to which Bazzi is entitled for his successful appeal.

A judge has questioned why solicitors representing Twitter personality Stock Swami published a media release about his “backstory” two days before trial in a defamation case brought by mining investor Tolga Kumova.

A judge overseeing a defamation case brought by Tolga Kumova against Twitter personality Stock Swami has said tweets the mining investor published which allegedly spruiked shares in which he invested were “clearly apt to mislead”.

Mining investor Tolga Kumova is “likely” to go after Twitter personality Stock Swami for contempt of court after he admitted he lied and withheld evidence in a defamation case, despite a judge saying there was “no smoking gun”.

A judge has told journalist Tegan George to rework her sex discrimination claims against Network Ten, following an interlocutory stoush over her claims that the network’s Canberra bureau, led by high profile political reporter Peter van Onselen and executive editor Anthony Murdoch “was a workplace that was hostile to women.”

Twitter personality Alan Davison, who runs the account Stock Swami, has admitted he misled lawyers for mining investor Tolga Kumova and deliberately failed to obey court orders for discovery in cross-examination during a defamation trial.