The Australian Federal Court ruled in favor of the defense minister and awarded him a large sum of money in a defamation lawsuit he had brought against a refugee advocate who had called out the lawmaker on social media.
The Defense Minister of Australia will receive damages for a defamation.
The images are from the same company.
According to the court, Dutton said that he felt hurt and distress after seeing a message from Bazzi that said he was a rape apologist.
The lawmaker said he was used to the rough and tumble of politics, however, he was deeply offended by the message.
A federal judge refused to grant an injunction that would have prevented Bazzi from posting about the minister in the future.
Bazzi had a blue tick next to his name, indicating that it was a verified account, and that was what he believed to be the reason for the rant against him.
Bazzi posted a message after Dutton defended his handling of the sexual assault complaint.
The now- deleted account said that Peter Dutton is a rape apologist and included a link to a news story where he was quoted saying that some female refugees were trying to enter Australia by making false claims of being raped.
Bazzi said they were very disappointed with the outcome. We will take time to think about our options. Thank you for your support.
The Australian government is engaged in a campaign to curb damaging commentary on social media platforms which it has referred to as a "coward's palace." Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned last month that he was prepared to make companies like Facebook and Twitter liable for defamation. The decision by Australia's top court to allow publishers to be held liable for public comments posted on online forums puts Australia at odds with rules in most other western democracies. Safe harbor laws that protect platforms like Facebook and Twitter from being sued for comments made by their users are often used. Internet activists argue that safe harbor provisions are a cornerstone of the open internet and that removing them could result in more online censorship.
Politician has to pay up and apologize for using fake news. It's not in the US. (Forbes)
The defense minister of Australia was given $25,000 for a six-word tweet.
