The Coalition is likely to oppose Labor’s second attempt to legislate a crackdown on online misinformation and disinformation, amid criticism from legal experts that expanding the bill to include political content would undermine free speech. Source: The Australian.
Communication Minister Michelle Rowland yesterday tabled a revised version of the bill that would grant the media watchdog powers to force tech giants to tackle false content on their platforms, which contains updated definitions of key terms including what constitutes “serious harm”.
The legislation retains a controversial measure allowing the minister to ask the Australian Communications and Media Authority to investigate online content unless it is from a “single end-user”, raising concerns that the legislation could be abused.
Ms Rowland said she would push for the legislation – which would fine tech giants that failed to control misinformation on their platforms – to pass Parliament by the end of the year, and would refer the bill to be scrutinised by a committee of MPs.
Opposition communication spokesman David Coleman said the inclusion of the “extraordinary provision” granting the minister power to direct ACMA’s investigations raised significant concerns.
Mr Coleman said he was also concerned about the inclusion of political and election content, including what MPs said in Parliament.
Victorian barrister and Voltaire Society president Peter A Clarke said the changes to the bill were the equivalent of putting “lipstick on a pig”, and expanding the legislation to capture political content was a change for the “worse”.
Mr Clarke said provisions in the legislation prohibiting content which was “reasonably verifiable” as false which caused “imminent harm to the Australian economy” was especially concerning, as well as provisions defining serious harm as “vilification” of protected groups.
He said the legislation was “so broadly drawn, it seeks to basically create a speech code as to what is acceptable conversation regarding race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity. Just take gender identity – the whole debate is swirling, and is changing all the time.”
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Coalition, lawyers raise free speech concerns about Labor’s misinformation laws (By Rhiannon Down, The Australian)
