The Australian government is seeking the public’s feedback on its draft Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023.
The new law would provide the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) with new powers to combat online misinformation and disinformation. The new powers will enable the ACMA to monitor efforts and require digital platforms to do more, placing Australia at the forefront in tackling harmful online misinformation and disinformation, while balancing freedom of speech.
The proposal appears to be a new approach to enable government and law enforcement to gain access to the content of communications, since it would require digital platforms to keep records of misinformation and disinformation content. While SMS, MMS, email and private messages are exempt, group chats that are open to the public are within scope — in which case complying with a requirement to record misinformation and disinformation could mean the removal of end-to-end encryption from “public group chats”, and for platforms to add a bot to “public group chats” to record the communications.
Of note is the way misinformation and disinformation are defined: so broadly that the easiest solution for platforms would be to simply record everything, rather than investing time, effort, or technology to assess what content is disinformation or misinformation.
The deadline for submissions is 06 August.
Learn more and have your say at https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/have-your-say/new-acma-powers-combat-misinformation-and-disinformation
