Government

Australia’s Anti-Misinformation Laws Target Twitter

Common sense regulation isn't a hard ask.

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twitter-gfdd804df4_1920There is a genuine tension between the government regulation of social media and free speech. Few things illustrate that minefield like the progressing TikTok ban lawsuit. But there are other cases where a government’s interest in regulating misinformation and public safety thumb the scale toward media regulation. Case in point: Twitter. We’ve seen far-right tweets correlated with bomb threats getting called in on high schools and rampant voter misinformation. America can do what it wants, but Australia doesn’t plan on letting that fly. From Reuters:

Australia’s Labor government on Thursday unveiled legislation which could fine internet platforms up to 5% of their global revenue for enabling misinformation, joining a worldwide push to rein in borderless tech giants.

The proposed law would require tech platforms to set codes of conduct to stop dangerous falsehoods spreading and be approved by a regulator. The regulator would set its own standard if a platform failed to do so and fine firms for non-compliance.

King Twit responded to Australia’s very reasonable attempts to limit misinformation by calling them his favorite F word:

The Guardian reported Australia’s Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones’s framing of the issue and — at least in my mind — they offered a much more reasonable framing than Elon’s one-word reply:

“For the life of me, I can’t see how Elon Musk or anyone else, in the name of free speech, thinks it is OK to have social media platforms publishing scam content, which is robbing Australians of billions of dollars every year. Publishing deepfake material, publishing child pornography. Livestreaming murder scenes. I mean, is this what he thinks free speech is all about?”

We just saw Brazil attempt to regulate the platform. They started pressuring Elon after finding out that Twitter was being used by Neo-Nazis to incite mass shootings:

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Elon spun the clear “maintaining the integrity of the country” issue into him refusing to be bossed around and summarily lost a ~20-million person market overnight. And, housing an estimated six million regular Twitter users, Australia has the chance to do something really funny.

Elon Musk Calls Australian Government ‘Fascists’ Over Misinformation Law [Reuters]

Earlier: Elon ‘Free Speech Absolutist’ Musk Threatens To Sue Nonprofit For Pointing Out He Seems To Like Hate Speech
Elon Musk Would Rather Have Twitter Shut Down Than Take The Smallest Amount Of Responsibility

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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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