CNN Denies Australians Access to Its Facebook Pages, Cites Defamation Risk

CNN Denies Australians Access to Its Facebook Pages, Cites Defamation Risk
A general view shows the stage during a walk-through before a Democratic presidential debate sponsored by CNN and Facebook at Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nev., on Oct. 13, 2015. Alex Wong/Getty Images
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SYDNEY—CNN said it is preventing Australians from accessing its Facebook pages after a court ruled that publishers can be liable for defamation in public comment sections and the social media firm refused to help it disable comments in the country.

The move makes CNN, which is owned by AT&T Inc., the first major news organization to pull its Facebook presence in Australia since the country’s highest court ruled this month that publishers were legally responsible for comments posted below articles—even if the articles themselves were not defamatory.