03/02/2020 Muwema -v- Facebook Ireland Ltd [2016] IEHC 519 (23 August 2016) (b) in relation to a film or sound recording containing the statement, he or she was responsible for the processing, copying, distribution, exhibition or selling only of the film or sound recording, (c) in relation to any electronic medium on which the statement is recorded or stored, he or she was responsible for the processing, copying, distribution or selling only of the electronic medium or was responsible for the operation or provision only of any equipment, system or service by means of which the statement would be capable of being retrieved, copied, distributed or made available. (3) The court shall, for the purposes of determining whether a person took reasonable care, or had reason to believe that what he or she did caused or contributed to the publication of a defamatory statement, have regard to— (a) the extent of the person’s responsibility for the content of the statement or the decision to publish it, (b) the nature or circumstances of the publication, and (c) the previous conduct or character of the person.” 39. The defendant also submits that it is an information society service provider within the meaning of the Directive and the Regulations and as such has no liability for material published by users on the Facebook service. The relevant provisions in the Regulations are regulations 15-18 which provide as follows:“15. A provision of Regulation 16, 17 or 18 providing that a relevant service provider shall not be liable for a particular act shall be construed as a provision to the effect that the provider shall not (a) be liable in damages or, unless otherwise provided, be liable to be the subject of an order providing for any other form of relief, for infringing, by reason of that act, the legal rights of any natural or legal person or, by reason of that act, for breaching any duty, or (b) (b) be liable to be subject to any proceedings (whether civil or criminal) by reason of that act constituting a contravention of any enactment or an infringement of any rule of law. 16. (1) An intermediary service provider shall not be liable for information transmitted by him or her in a communication network if — (a) the information has been provided to him or her by a recipient of a relevant service provided by him or her (being a service consisting of the transmission in a communication network of that information), or (b) a relevant service provided by him or her consists of the provision of access to a communication network, and, in either case, the following conditions are complied with — (i) the intermediary service provider did not initiate the transmission, (ii) the intermediary service provider did not select the receiver of the transmission, and (iii) the intermediary service provider did not select or modify the information contained in the transmission. (2) References in paragraph (1) to an act of transmission and of provision of access include references to the automatic, intermediate and transient storage of the information transmitted in so far as this takes place for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission in the communications network, and provided that the information is not stored for any period longer than is reasonably necessary for the transmission. www.bailii.org/ie/cases/IEHC/2016/H519.html 8/15