This is the fifteenth instalment in a regular series from Inforrm highlighting press and case reports of new media and information cases from around the world.  It is intended to complement our United States: Monthly Round Up posts.  Please let us know if there are other cases and jurisdictions which we should be covering.

In the Media

Australia

Info Security has scrutinised Australia’s mooting of the introduction of a points-based ID system for users of social media and online dating sites.

The Sydney Morning Herald has a piece on why the country needs more media diversity and how this could possibly be achieved.

Canada

The Globe and the Mail has an opinion piece on Canada’s commitment to media freedom needing to be matched by action.   

Hong Kong

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been imprisioned over pro-democracy protests- there were reports from Sky News, Channel 4 and the Telegraph are among those with coverage.

India

The New York Times [£] has considered how India’s newer media outlets challenged Modi’s government and how new regulatory mechanisms could curtail them.

New Zealand

Mike O’Donnell has considered why future-proofing public media will be no easy feat.

Pakistan

Pakistan temporarily blocked social media for a matter of hours after days of violent protests. The Minister of the Interior on Friday 16 April directed the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority to temporarily block access to Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, YouTube and Telegram. Aljazeera has coverage.

Russia

Russia new requirements for foreign-funded media outlets have been taken to the European Court of Human Rights by a US government-funded media group- the Global Arbitration Review reports.

DW has a report on how social media is manipulated, using Russian political accounts as a focus for alleged influence.

In the Courts

Australia

Agustin-Bunch v Smith [2021] VSC 158 – a failed application for an interlocutory injunction in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Google LLC (No 2) [2021] FCA 367 – a case concerning alleged misdirection of users of Android devices by Google regarding data collected via the settings Web & App Activity and Location History. Web & App Activity was defaulted to “on” and Location History was defaulted to “off”. These default settings meant that Google LLC could obtain, retain and use personal location data when a user was using various apps, including Google services such as Google Maps.

Capilano Honey Ltd v Dowling (No 4) [2021] NSWSC 264, the claim concerned actions for defamation and injurious falsehood alleged across eleven articles. The plaintiffs were successful in their claims an obtained an injunction preventing the defendant from publishing the eleven articles. The article were ordered to be removed from the website.

This Round up was complied by Suneet Sharma a junior legal professional with a particular interest and experience in media, information and privacy law.