Lee Hsien Loong v Leong Sze Hian
38
[2021] SGHC 66
Turning to the first basis for finding that the Article has been published
by the defendant, the reasoning is fairly straightforward: insofar as the Article
forms part of the Post, and the Post has itself been published, the Article (and
its content) can be said to have been published as well.
39
Support for this proposition may be drawn from the view of Nicklin J in
Daniel Poulter MP v Times Newspapers Limited [2018] 3900 QB (“Poulter”)
at [21]:
The position seems to me to be different in relation to the online
publication. I noted in Falter v Altzmon [2018] EWHC 1728 QB
that the rule from Charleston that readers are taken to read the
whole of a publication has its limits in relation to links provided
in an online version of an article:
[12] The Internet provides a degree of challenge to [the]
orthodoxy [of Charleston] because it is possible to set
out in on-line publications many hyperlinks to external
material. It is perhaps unrealistic to proceed on the
basis that every reader will follow all the hyperlinks, but
everything depends on its context. For example, if in a
single tweet there is a single statement that says, “X is
a liar” and then a hyperlink is given, it is almost an
irresistible inference to conclude that the ordinary
reasonable reader would have to follow the hyperlink in
order to make sense of what was being said. At the other
end of the spectrum, a very long article could contain a
very large number of hyperlinks. Only the most
tenacious or diligent reader could be expected to follow
every single one of those hyperlinks. Such a reader
could hardly be described as the ordinary reasonable
reader. How many links any individual reader would
follow would depend on an individual’s interest in or
knowledge of the subject matter or perhaps other
particular reasons for investigating each of the
hyperlinks in question.
Of particular note from this extract is the view that if only a single statement is
made, and one hyperlink given, it is “almost an irresistible inference” to
conclude that the ordinary reasonable reader would follow the hyperlink, thus
triggering the rule in Charleston v News Group Newspapers Ltd [1995] 2 AC
20
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