The Australian government threatened to fine online platforms up to 5% of their global revenue for failing to prevent the spread of misinformation — joining a worldwide push to crack down on tech giants like Facebook and X.
Legislation introduced Thursday would force tech platforms to set codes of conduct – which must be approved by a regulator – with guidelines on how they will prevent the spread of dangerous falsehoods.
If a platform fails to create these guidelines, the regulator would set its own standard for the platform and fine it for non-compliance.
The legislation targets false content that hurts election integrity or public health, calls for denouncing a group or injuring a person, or risks disrupting key infrastructure or emergency services.
Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has previously said that Facebook’s parent company may block professional news content from its platforms if it is forced to pay royalties.
Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, has notably removed most content moderation since the billionaire purchased the platform in 2022.
Earlier this month, a Brazilian judge blocked the site formerly known as Twitter in the largest South American country for allegedly spreading disinformation.
Free speech advocates have denounced the widening crackdown around the world but Australia’s decision to hold social media titans accountable could reverberate closer to home, experts said.
“There is movement and there is attention. Whether something will actually pass [in the US] anytime soon is a big question mark,” News Media Alliance CEO and President Danielle Coffey told The Post.
In the US, social media companies are shielded by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — the longstanding, controversial law that prevents platforms from being sued for content that their users post.
“We would welcome some sort of revisitation [of Section 230] … so these platforms are responsible for the content they distribute on a massive scale, Coffey said.
“You think there would be some responsibility.”
Last month, the Senate passed landmark child online safety bills, and Zuckerberg made headlines when he apologized to parents who accused his platforms of contributing to their children’s suicides and exploitation.
Australia’s bill is the country’s latest effort to tamp down tech platforms’ wide-ranging immunity from being held liable for harmful content and comes ahead of a federal election in the country.
“Misinformation and disinformation pose a serious threat to the safety and wellbeing of Australians, as well as to our democracy, society and economy,” said Communications Minister Michelle Rowland in a statement.
“Doing nothing and allowing this problem to fester is not an option.”
An initial version of the bill was criticized in 2023 for giving Australia’s communications agency too much power in determining what constituted misinformation and disinformation, the latter of which refers to the intentional spreading of lies.
Rowland said the new version of the bill does not give the agency the power to force the takedown of specific pieces of content.
The bill protects professional news, artistic and religious content. It does not protect government content.
Some four-fifths of Australians wanted the spread of misinformation addressed, the minister said, citing the Australian Media Literary Alliance.
Nearly nine in 10 Australians are Facebook users.
Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
X did not immediately respond to inquiries about whether it would comply with the legislation.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said that while he had yet to examine the revised bill, “Australians’ legitimately-held political beliefs should not be censored by either the government, or by foreign social media platforms”.
The Australia Communications and Media Authority said it welcomed “legislation to provide it with a formal regulatory role to combat misinformation and disinformation on digital platforms.”
With Post wires
