Here’s What Scott Morrison’s Proposed Anti-Trolling Legislation Means For Australians
“Big tech has big questions to answer."
The Morrison government has provided the first look at a proposed new anti-trolling and social media legislation that could force big tech companies to disclose the personal details of social media users who make potentially defamatory comments.
Under the legislation, entitled the Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill 2021, tech companies like Google, TikTok, and Facebook could be considered the publishers of any comments made on their platforms by Australians.
The proposed new bill comes as Scott Morrison has also announced a broad new parliamentary inquiry into big tech companies and online safety.
“Big tech has big questions to answer. But we also want to hear from Australians; parents, teachers, athletes, small businesses and more, about their experience and what needs to change,” Morrison said when he announced the inquiry.
According to the exposure draft of the bill — released on Wednesday — tech publishers could be held liable for defamation for any comments made on their websites.
Additionally, social media platforms will be required to notify commenters within 72 hours if they are the subject of a defamation complaint. The accused will then have to provide consent for the big tech companies to share their personal information to complainants, who can then raise any potential legal suits.
Under the proposed legislation, personal information can include names, email addresses, phone numbers, and country location data.
The controversial new bill also seeks to give Australian courts the power to issue end-user information disclosure orders, which would compel platforms to disclose the personal information of commenters who may have defamed another person.
Basically, this would be used in situations where the commenter does not give consent for the information to be shared, on grounds where a defamation suit is filed.
If the platform cannot identify a trolling account — either because of insufficient or fraudulent information — the platform itself will be held liable to any defamation lawsuits.
“Digital platforms, these online companies, must have proper processes to enable the takedown of this content. There needs to be an easy and quick and fast way for people to raise these issues with these platforms and get it taken down,” said Morrison on Sunday.
However, critics of the bill have claimed it is too little, too late, and say it won’t go far enough.
“Overall, I’d say this is far too little too late — so much real harm has already been done. And this doesn’t go far enough,” cyberhate expert Ginger Gorman told The Guardian. “The government must legislate a duty of care so the public has to be kept safe by the platform. They are continually publishing egregious content and have no accountability for this.”
Additionally, experts have raised the issue of what exactly constitutes “online hate” and “trolling”, with some worried that this could be exploited.
“Defining some of these terms: things like ‘online hate’ and ‘trolling’ are subjective,” University of Melbourne’s Dr Lauren Rosewarne warned.
“For example, are repeatedly expressed, strongly worded opinions that differ from yours trolling? Some people would say yes, others would say no.”
The proposed new bill comes less than a week after Defence Minister Peter Dutton successfully sued a voter over a six word tweet that was quickly deleted.