This photo taken on August 28, 2023 shows the main entrance to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Building (also known as Parliament House) in Darwin.
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Australia said it would fine online platforms up to 5% of their global revenue for failing to stop the spread of misinformation online, joining a global push to rein in borderless tech giants but angering rhetoric Liberty Advocate.
The government said it would let tech platforms develop codes of conduct governing how to stop the spread of dangerous lies, subject to regulatory approval. If platforms fail to do so, regulators will set their own standards and then fine non-compliant companies.
The legislation, due to be introduced in Parliament on Thursday, targets false content that harms the integrity of elections or public health, calls for condemnation of a group or harms others, or risks damaging critical infrastructure or emergency services.
The bill is part of a broader regulatory crackdown in Australia, where leaders have complained that foreign-registered tech platforms override the country’s sovereignty, and was proposed ahead of a federal election due in a year.
Already a Facebook owner Yuan has said it could block professional news content if forced to pay royalties, while X, formerly known as Twitter, has eliminated most content moderation since it was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk in 2022.
“Misinformation and disinformation pose a serious threat to the safety and well-being of Australians, as well as our democracy, society and economy,” Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said in a statement.
“Taking no action and letting this problem fester is not an option.”
The original version of the bill was criticized in 2023 for giving too much power to the Australian Communications and Media Authority to determine what constituted misinformation and disinformation (terms for deliberately spreading lies).
Rowland said the new bill stipulates that media regulators will not have the power to force the deletion of individual content or user accounts. The new version of the bill protects professional journalism, the arts and religious content, but not government-authorized content.
Citing the Australian Media and Literary Alliance, the minister said about four in five Australians wanted to tackle the spread of misinformation.
Meta declined to comment, saying nearly nine in 10 Australians are Facebook users. DIGI, the industry organization to which Meta belongs, said the new system strengthened its anti-disinformation code, which was last updated in 2022, but there are still many problems.
X could not immediately be reached for comment.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Patterson said that while he had not yet reviewed the revised bill, “the legitimately held political beliefs of Australians should not be subject to censorship by governments or foreign social media platforms.”
The Australian Communications and Media Authority said it welcomed “legislation giving it formal regulatory functions to combat misinformation and disinformation on digital platforms”.
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