Network Ten has been grilled in court over its decision to bury a correction related to The Project at the bottom of its terms of use webpage.
American fetish master Dylan Hafertepen settled with Ten earlier this year over a November 2018 report he said portrayed him as being involved in the death of his boyfriend, Melbourne man Jack "Tank" Chapman.
The 12-minute report about Mr Chapman, whose enlarged scrotum was a feature of his public kink relationship with Mr Hafertepen, was republished to Ten's catch-up service and The Project's Facebook and Twitter pages.
The terms of the American man's confidential settlement with Ten involved the network covering his legal costs, writing a private apology he could show family and employers, and a clarification being placed on the 10play website for 14 days, the Federal Court was told on Friday.
There was no payment of damages, Mr Hafertepen's barrister Sue Chrysanthou told the court.
But, with the deed of settlement not explicit on where to place the website clarification, Ten ran it at the bottom of its terms of use page.
"How many people are reading the exciting terms of use?" Ms Chrysanthou asked.
"I don't know," replied Myles Farley, a senior legal counsel at Network Ten.
Cross-examined for more than an hour, he repeatedly denied the suggestion he acted in bad faith.
While he was concerned about Ten's reputation, his primary thought was about whether he'd complied with the settlement terms, he said.
"It just said the website so I put it where I put it," Mr Farley said.
Asked by Justice Anna Katzmann why The Project's webpage wasn't the most logical location to place the clarification, the lawyer said this case wasn't like others and he'd believed it wasn't appropriate to place it next to third-party articles published on the show's page.
"I understood (terms of use) to be for legal notices."
Justice Katzmann noted people don't even read the terms of use when required to agree to them.
"It's frankly likely absolutely no one read this," Ms Chrysanthou said.
She said the correction was her client's "only form of real public vindication" given the settlement explicitly forbade the private apology being posted online or being distributed.
The settlement also required Ten to send letters of correction to media organisations that had republished The Project's claims.
Lawyers for Mr Hafertepen have accused Ten of not complying with this clause after they were sent a photograph of the letters by Mr Farley in which the text is "illegible".
"Invisible would perhaps be more accurate," Justice Katzmann said.
Mr Farley said the picture wasn't required in the settlement but he sent it "trying to help".
"The point of the photo was to show that I'd sent the letter, that I'd gone to the trouble of sending them."
The hearing continues.
