14
Media organisations measure the number of different visitors to their website
(and to the public Facebook page), which may then be used to negotiate rates
with potential advertisers. For that purpose, even more than is the case in
traditional media publications, the content is required to be noticeable and
generate engagement.
15
In relation to Nationwide News Pty Ltd, the public Facebook page generates
approximately 39% of the monthly visitors to The Australian website. On 4 July
2017, approximately 53% of “unique” (by which it was intended to mean
different and separate) monthly visitors came from the public Facebook page.
The foregoing figure is a snapshot of the particular day and not a cumulative
total.
16
As is common knowledge, Facebook and other social media utilise algorithms
that measure the relevance of articles and correlate the articles with the
comment. In relation to Facebook pages (including public Facebook pages),
the algorithm utilises, as one criterion, the incidence of persons gaining access
to a particular comment or article. Mr Shelley detailed examples of how the
outcome operates, albeit in circumstances where the algorithm itself is
commercially sensitive and not available, even to experts.
17
Essentially, Facebook measures the number of persons who show interest in
the content (by, for example, liking an article, or sharing an article, or making
comment on an article) and assesses a “genus” of the persons who show
interest. It then publishes the article to all persons within that genus.
18
The same process occurs, for a public Facebook page of the kind with which
the Court is here dealing in each of the three proceedings. Further, the content
on Facebook may be searched and one could, if one were so minded, search
for the plaintiff’s name and the Facebook entries in relation to the plaintiff would
be discovered.
19
During the course of the proceedings, a great deal of attention was
concentrated on the hiding or deleting of comments. Administrators of public
Facebook pages have the ability to hide comments or to delete comments.
When an Administrator hides a comment on Facebook, the comment will only
be able to be seen by the person who wrote it (“the commentator”), her or his