Australia seeks to mandate online censorship

Australia’s government last week published draft legislation that would force social media platforms to suppress information considered false by authorities.

According to the proposed law, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) would be granted new powers to fine digital platforms millions of dollars for not sufficiently censoring “misinformation”.

“Misinformation and disinformation pose a threat to the safety and wellbeing of Australians, as well as to our democracy, society and economy,” says a government web page on the legislation.

Misinformation is defined as “online content that is false, misleading or deceptive, that is shared or created without an intent to deceive but can cause and contribute to serious harm.”

Disinformation, on the other hand, includes an intent to cause and contribute to serious harm, though it is unclear why it is not already covered by misinformation.

“Serious harm is harm that affects a significant portion of the Australian population, economy or environment, or undermines the integrity of an Australian democratic process,” a government fact sheet explains.

To “combat misinformation and disinformation”, the ACMA will be empowered to require digital platform providers “to keep certain records about matters regarding misinformation and disinformation”.

The ACMA will also be able to compel the industry as a whole to develop a set of practices regarding censoring “misinformation and disinformation”. This will necessarily include a penalty of $2.75 million or 2% of global turnover — whichever is greater — for any digital platform that does not comply.

If the regulator finds this set of practices insufficient, however, it will be able to enforce its own “stronger form of regulation” on the industry.

Types of platforms that would be affected include social media platforms, search engines, news aggregators, podcasting services and instant messaging services, though private messages will as of now not fall under the scope of the ACMA’s new powers.

Australia’s Communications Minister Michelle Rowland expressed support for the legislation, saying the amendment would "essentially mean that the regulator is able to look under the hood of what the platforms are doing and what measures they are taking to ensure compliance".

Public comment is allowed until August 6th.