Virtually every time a judge steps into the courtroom to adjudicate in a media case, it seems to have the effect of making the publication and dissemination of news more difficult. NSW Supreme Court judge Stephen Rothman's judgment on Monday is a classic of the genre.

In this case, The Sydney Morning Herald and other media organisations published links to their (non-defamatory) articles on their public Facebook pages. Then some unnamed individuals posted comments that the plaintiff, Dylan Voller, says were defamatory of him.

Dylan Voller, pictured in 2017, sued three media organisations for defamation. Credit:AAP

The question before the court was: are the media liable for defamatory comments made by third parties on their public posts? This question, obviously, carries enormous significance for all Australian publishers who use Facebook – in other words, all of them.

The Herald posts up to 50 articles a day on its Facebook page, which attract anywhere from 100 to thousands of comments each. Facebook gives publishers no ability to pre-vet comments.