'Keep Australia safe': Dystopian 'disinformation' bill unveiled

Proposed legislation could have serious implications for free speech in Australia, says Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman.

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An Australian government bill warns tech and social media giants to remove misinformation from their platforms or be prepared to pay hefty fines.

The new bill would give the country's media regulator - the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) - the power to make it mandatory for digital platforms such as Google and Facebook to keep records relating to disinformation and misinformation on their platforms.

These companies would be required to turn over these records at any time upon request by the ACMA.

In addition, the ACMA would be able to request and enforce an industry-wide "code of practice" that introduces new measures to combat misinformation. The ACMA would be able to create and implement its own industry standard.

Draft of the Communications Amendment Bill. Source: Department of Infrastructure

Any violation of this proposed new standard would see tech giants pay a hefty maximum fine with fines of up to at $4.6 million (A$6.88 million). ) or 5% of worldwide turnover. As a reminder, 5% of Facebook's parent company Meta's global revenue is around $5.3 billion (A$8 billion).

According to an ABC of June 26