Published on the 17/09/2024 | Written by Heather Wright
Musk dubs government ‘fascists’…
Australia has ramped up the war on misinformation threatening to fine digital platforms up to five percent of their global revenue if they fail to prevent the spread of content ‘reasonably verifiable as false, misleading or deceptive and reasonably likely to cause or contribute to serious harm’.
News of the Communications Legislation (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 prompted Elon Musk to lash out, calling the Australian government ‘fascists’ with ministers firing back in return.
“Elon Musk’s had more positions on free speech than the Kama Sutra.”
Labour introduced the new bill to parliament last week, with Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland saying the misinformation and disinformation pose a ‘serious threat to the safety and wellbeing of Australians, as well as to our democracy, society and economy’.
“Doing nothing and allowing this problem to fester is not an option,” Rowland says.
The bill will give the Australian Communications and Media Authority new powers, including enabling it to approve an enforceable industry code or make standards if industry self-regulation to stop misinformation fails, and to fine companies for non-compliance.
It is targeting false content which hurts election integrity or public health, calls for the denouncing of a group or injuring a person, or risks disrupting key infrastructure and emergency services.
The introduction of the bill came on the same day attorney-general Mark Dreyfus introduced legislation to strengthen privacy protections, including outlawing doxxing – publicly releasing online the personal details of Australians – and as the government looks to impose a ban on children and younger teens accessing social media. South Australia has already announced plans to reduce the age limits, restricting access to social media to those 14 and over. A crackdown on companies allowing scamming to flourish is also underway.
Australia has been proactive in attempting to crack down on big tech and social media though an earlier attempt at a bill to combat misinformation and disinformation stirring up plenty of controversy and criticism for providing the ACMA with too much power to determine what constituted misinformation or disinformation.
Rowland says the new offering follows extensive public consultation to refine and prepare the bill for introduction.
“Following public consultation on the draft bill last year, revisions have been made that carefully balance the public interest in combatting seriously harmful misinformation and disinformation with the freedom of expression that is so fundamental to our democracy.”
She cited Australian Media Literacy Alliance figures showing 80 percent of Australians say the spread of misinformation on social media needs to be addressed.
The new bill would require increased transparency from platforms, requiring them to assess risks and publish the results of those assessments along with policies for the management of mis- and disinformation and plans for ensuring end-users are better able to identify mis- and disinformation.
Rowland says the bill will complement voluntary industry codes but enable the ACMA to step in if those codes don’t address the issue.
A voluntary Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation, was introduced in 2023 by industry body Digi. It currently has nine signatories including Meta, Google, TikTok and Twitch. X was dumped from the code after failing to respond to a complaint about shutting down the ability for users to report misinformation.
Musk, whose X infamously fired its trust and safety staff and allowed previously banned users back online after Musk acquired the company, hit out at the plans the day the bill was introduced, posting ‘Fascists’ when sharing a post on the news.
Federal minister Bill Shorten hit back saying Musk was a champion of free speech when it was in his commercial interests, but keen to shut it down when he doesn’t like it, while assistant treasurer Stephen Jones labelled Musk’s comment ‘crackpot stuff’.
Comments by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese further fanned the verbal showdown.
“Elon Musk’s had more positions on free speech than the Kama Sutra,” he said on the Today Show. He added that social media companies have a social responsibility and ‘if Mr Musk doesn’t understand that, that says more about him that it does about my government’ prompting Musk to double down with the comment ‘Far left fascists love censorship’.
Musk is not alone in not supporting the proposal, with opposition parties weighing in – though stopping short of Musk’s terms.
Reset.Tech Australia has also spoken out, saying while it supports enhanced regulatory powers for misinformation and disinformation, it is ‘deeply concerned’ the process outlined ‘is captive to an ineffective and hostile industry codes process that let’s Big Tech off easy and stymies public accountability’.
“ACMA should be immediately empowered to bypass industry codes and set a standard,” Reset.Tech says, adding that while the bill considers regulator standards setting as a last resort ‘it is evident that the threshold for last resort has already been crossed’.
