Online responsibility is governed by the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002 No 2013) and The Defamation Act 1996, commonly known as the safe harbour defences.
[Our original post on the Delfi AS v Estonia judgement here]
LEGAL FRAMEWORK
The following legislation provides that no liability shall arise until and after Information society Service Providers [“ISPs] are put on notice of the material complained about:
1. Pursuant to Regulation 19 of the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 where:an ‘information society service’ is provided which consists of the storage of information provided by a recipient of the service the service provider is not liable for damages or for any unlawful activity as a result of that storage where the storage provider “does not have actual knowledge of unlawful activity or information” and the provider “upon obtaining such knowledge or awareness acts expeditiously to remove or to disable access to the information”.