Australian digital safety laws backed by democracy advocates

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 27 Oct, 04:02 · Archive

More than a dozen Australian democracy groups have endorsed Labor's digital duty of care proposals.

Labor's digital duty of care legislation has received backing from more than a dozen democracy advocacy groups, though its path through Australia's parliament remains uncertain.

The proposals would allow social media users to disable infinite scrolling algorithms and require big tech platforms to remove distressing, extremist and violent content. Platforms would be compelled to protect users under 18 from material promoting crime, eating disorders, pornography and misogynistic content. The government has agreed to place the power to define new online harms with parliament rather than the communications minister, a concession made to appease the Greens and address coalition concerns about potential political censorship.

Tom Mooney, director of Democracy Counts, said users should "be able to connect online without constantly being scammed, fed fakes or vulnerable people left to fend for themselves." Peter Greste, head of the Alliance for Journalists Freedom, argued that "platforms should serve us rather than the unelected and unaccountable technocrats who run them."

The opposition has resolved to vote against the bill. Labor hopes to pass the legislation before the end of the year. Democracy Counts has called for the government to go further by allowing individuals to take tech companies to court.

How it is being reported

• Digital safety laws get nod from democracy guardiansPlans to give social media users an opt-out from algorithms and get big tech to stamp out extremist content will be good for democracy, experts say.Perth Now · 27 Oct, 03:41
• Digital safety laws get nod from democracy guardiansPlans to give social media users an opt-out from algorithms and get big tech to stamp out extremist content will be good for democracy, experts say.The West Australian · 27 Oct, 03:41

In this story: Labor · Greens · Democracy Counts · Alliance for Journalists Freedom · Australia

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem