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Shire sues Facebook user

The Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley is suing a member of the public who allegedly claimed on a Kununurra-based Facebook page that public servants were stealing money.

Shire chief executive Gary Gaffney confirmed last week the authority was taking legal action against a woman he claims defamed three council employees by suggesting they were pocketing money from a Kununurra council facility.

He said the allegations were posted on a Facebook group entitled Kununurra Community News.

Mr Gaffney has written to Kym Sheppard, the administrator of the page, suggesting she seek legal advice to avoid being implicated in cases involving members of the group she created.

He said his view was Miss Sheppard had a responsibility to monitor comments posted on the page.

“The administrator has to understand that three innocent people were clouded by an accusation and, therefore, we asked the person to put their case forward to police,” he said.

“We didn’t ask once, we asked on three occasions, and they failed to come forward with any information, evidence. They have failed to apologise so, therefore, I think it is only right we defend our staff against allegations of this order.

“I think the administrator of the site may think it was a relevant comment not realising the severity of the accusation. If people make comment and she is the administrator of that site, our view is that she has to understand what those implications are.”

Miss Sheppard told The Kimberley Echo this week the page was created with good intentions, and that she would remove any comments she believed were defamatory or slanderous.

She believed the Shire should not have contacted her personally, or suggested she seek legal advice.

“I took it as the Shire threatening me to shut up, or to shut the page down and that won’t be happening,” she said.

“They can try to threaten me for having the idea of putting it up there and I’ve put a disclaimer on there saying that the opinions of the other people aren’t necessarily my opinions… I don’t want any trouble on the page. I wanted it to be a great tool for people to use and talk about things and I think I’ve just hit a raw nerve with the Shire.”

Nick Stagg, head of Lavan Legal’s online media and defamation team, said the administrator of a social media group could be held liable for content written by its users.

“If the person responsible for creating the Facebook page is known, then that person, even if they did not upload the offensive content themselves, might potentially fall within the chain of liability for publication of the offensive content, particularly if the offending content is brought to their attention and they don’t act on the complaint and demand that it be removed,” he said.

He was unaware of any defamation claims made against the administrator of a Facebook page for comments uploaded by a site user in WA.

WA Local Government Association chief executive Ricky Burges said her organisation would support councils pursuing legal action on behalf of employees.

“We support the right of a council to take any action they feel is appropriate should they believe an elected member or employee has been defamed or harshly dealt with in their capacity as an employee or elected member,” she said.