Australia abandons plots for ‘disinformation’ fines
Date
11/25/2024 7:43:02 AM
(MENAFN) The Australian government has decided to abandon its proposal to impose fines on social media platforms for failing to combat harmful misinformation and disinformation online. The ruling labor Party conceded that its Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill would not gain enough support in parliament. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland stated that discussions with Senators made it clear that there was no viable path to pass the bill, criticizing its opponents for prioritizing partisanship over the public interest.
The proposed legislation had been opposed by several political parties, including the conservative Liberal-National coalition, the Australian Greens, and various crossbench senators. Critics argued that the bill could suppress free speech. Rowland, however, urged these groups to support alternative measures aimed at strengthening democracy and ensuring online safety. She also highlighted that 80% of Australians wanted action to address the risks posed by harmful disinformation, which she argued threatened elections, democracy, and national security.
The scrapped bill would have required social media platforms to adopt codes of conduct to tackle issues such as fake accounts, bots, and deep fakes, with penalties of up to 5% of a platform's global revenue for non-compliance. Despite the setback, Rowland's office has continued pushing for regulations on tech companies, recently proposing an amendment to the Online Safety Act to enforce age-verification protections on social media.
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