CNN has given up Facebook for its Australian audience

In fear, CNN says it has stopped posting articles on Australian Facebook pages, citing a court ruling that media firms would be held liable for defamation made by the general public via the comments section.

The company has also tried to collaborate with Facebook, to request comments be muted – but those discussions have reportedly failed.

The move makes CNN, which is owned by telco giant AT&T , the first major news organisation to pull its Australian Facebook presence, since the nations’s high court ruled that publishers were legally responsible for comments posted below stories.

And that’s even if the stories themselves were not defamatory.

CNN does not feature prominently in Australian media consumption, however the decision could have reverberations across the industry if other outlets follow in the footsteps of the American based broadcaster.

Facebook declined a request to help CNN and other publishers disable public comments in the country following the ruling, CNN said.

The spokeswoman also added that CNN would continue to publish content on its own platforms within Australia.