In wake of Christchurch terror attack, Australia passes law targeting social media companies hosting violent material online
5961 Min Read
The Australian government is seeking to rush through tough new laws targeting social media and tech companies that host violent material online despite objections from the industry.
Yesterday, the Australian parliament has passed legislation to crack down on violent videos on social media, despite furious reaction from the tech industry, media companies and legal experts.
News.Au reports that the Australian attorney-general Christian Porter says the Christchurch terror attack, in which a lone gunman live streamed himself killing 50 people at two mosques, shows social media needs to be scrutinised.
The Labor opposition combined with the ruling Liberal-National Coalition to pass the law on Thursday, despite warning it won’t allow prosecution of social media executives as promised by the government. Tech giants expressed the opposite concern that it may criminalise anyone in their companies for a failure to remove violent material.
The bill, described the attorney general, Christian Porter, as “most likely a world first”, was drafted in the wake of the Christchurch terrorist attack, when video of the alleged perpetrator’s violent attack spread on social media faster than it could be removed.
On Thursday Porter said Facebook and Twitter “should not be playing footage of murder”, in the same way that commercial television stations would not show it.
The bill creates a regime for the eSafety Commissioner to notify social media companies that they are deemed to be aware they are hosting abhorrent violent material, triggering an obligation to take it down.
