Australia to introduce new laws to force media platforms to unmask online trolls

FILE PHOTO: A man takes a mobile phone picture of the windowed ceiling at a shopping mall in Sydney, Australia, July 3, 2017. REUTERS/Steven Saphore

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia will introduce legislation to make social media giants provide details of users who post defamatory comments, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday.

The government has been looking at the extent of the responsibility of platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, for defamatory material published on their sites and comes after the country's highest court ruled that publishers can be held liable for public comments on online forums.