of the defendant to take steps to verify the truth of the imputation conveyed by it.
(4) In determining whether it was reasonable for the defendant to believe that publishing the statement complained of was in the public interest, the court must make such allowance for editorial judgement as it considers appropriate.
(5) For the avoidance of doubt, the defence under this section may be relied upon irrespective of whether the statement complained of is a statement of fact or a statement of opinion.
(6) The common law defence known as the Reynolds defence is abolished.
5 Operators of websites
(1) This section applies where an action for defamation is brought against the operator of a website in respect of a statement posted on the website.
(2) It is a defence for the operator to show that it was not the operator who posted the statement on the website.
(3) The defence is defeated if the claimant shows that—
- (a) it was not possible for the claimant to identify the person who posted the statement,
- (b) the claimant gave the operator a notice of complaint in relation to the statement, and
- (c) the operator failed to respond to the notice of complaint in accordance with any provision contained in regulations.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (3)(a), it is possible for a claimant to “identify” a person only if the claimant has sufficient information to bring proceedings against the person.
(5) Regulations may—
- (a) make provision as to the action required to be taken by an operator of a website in response to a notice of complaint (which may in particular include action relating to the identity or contact details of the person who posted the statement and action relating to its removal);
- (b) make provision specifying a time limit for the taking of any such action;
- (c) make provision conferring on the court a discretion to treat action taken after the expiry of a time limit as having been taken before the expiry;
- (d) make any other provision for the purposes of this section.
(6) Subject to any provision made by virtue of subsection (7), a notice of complaint is a notice which—
- (a) specifies the complainant’s name,
- (b) sets out the statement concerned and explains why it is defamatory of the complainant,
- (c) specifies where on the website the statement was posted, and
- (d) contains such other information as may be specified in regulations.
(7) Regulations may make provision about the circumstances in which a notice which is not a notice of complaint is to be treated as a notice of complaint for the purposes of this section or any provision made under it.
(8) Regulations under this section—
