Moved by
Lord Phillips of Sudbury
10: Clause 5, page 3, line 9, leave out subsections (1) to (5) and insert—
“(1) It is a defence for the operator to show that—
(a) it was not the operator who posted the statement,
(b) the operator took reasonable care in relation to its posting,
(c) the operator did not know and had no reason to believe that what it did caused, encouraged or contributed to the posting of the statement, and
(d) the operator responded to a complaint about the statement with expedition and took such action in relation to the statement as was reasonable in the circumstances.
(2) In considering the reasonableness of a defence under this section, a court shall take into account any steps taken by an operator to establish or adopt, and then to enforce or implement, any anti-defamation code of practice, any complaints procedure and any system for ascertaining and making available to a claimant the identity of any person posting any statement sufficient for the claimant to bring proceedings against the person.”