Notice · Defamation & Media Law
Complaint notice to a digital intermediary (s 31A accessible complaints mechanism) with UK and US variants
A short complaint to a platform, page owner or website operator that meets s 31A(3), starts the 7-day period for access prevention steps, and asks for poster data to be preserved. Includes the UK s 5 notice-of-complaint content.
- Kind
- Notice. A formal notice to serve or publish.
- Where it applies
- Australia, New South Wales, United Kingdom (England and Wales), United States
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 17 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked against the cited sources on 17 October 2026.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when third-party content on a platform, forum, page or website defames the client and you want it removed or want to remove the intermediary's defence. Check first whether the intermediary is exempt (caching, conduit, storage or search engine) and whether the Stage 2 provisions apply in the governing jurisdiction.
How AI may be used
AI may capture and tabulate URLs and map who posted, hosted and administered the matter; the lawyer decides the recipients, the legal basis and the wording of any imputations.
AI may
- Tabulate URLs, post IDs, accounts and capture times from screenshots and exports the lawyer supplies
- Map the publication path (poster, page or forum administrator, platform, host, search engine) for the lawyer to confirm
- Locate the intermediary's published complaints mechanism and legal notices address
AI must not
- Must not decide whether the intermediary is exempt or has a defence
- Must not draft imputations or decide whether the notice doubles as a concerns notice
- Must not quote the matter from an AI summary rather than the captured original
The lawyer checks
- The complaint states the name, the matter and its location, and that the complainant considers it defamatory
- It was sent through the accessible complaints mechanism or a s 44 method, with proof kept
- The Stage 2 provisions have commenced in the jurisdiction whose law governs the claim
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Official form
Open the official form. Always use the current version from the issuer.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
More in Defamation & Media Law
- Concerns notice under the uniform Defamation Acts (with UK letter-of-claim and NZ variants)
- Offer to make amends in response to a concerns notice
- Pre-publication legal review checklist (including AI-generated text, images and quotes)
- Takedown demand for AI-generated deepfake or synthetic content (to poster or platform)
- Newsroom and publisher generative AI and synthetic media policy
All precedents for Defamation & Media Law · Tasks and AI use in this area