8 October 2012: The Commonwealth and State Attorneys General have met in Brisbane to discuss possible measures to regulate comments on social media that may be prejudicial to the outcome of criminal trials.
The discussion follows concerns that the trial of the man accused of the rape and murder of Melbourne woman Jill Meagher may be compromised by comments posted on sites such as Facebook and Twitter by users inciting hatred against the accused. The Attorney’s General discussed new national protocols that would allow officials to contact social networking websites and demand material be removed.
Victorian Attorney General Robert Clark warned that both the sites and even individual users may face punishment for posting prejudicial material.
You can read more about the measures from the Age Online here.