Social media giants could be forced to pay for regulating and enforcing a swath of new laws designed to curb the social, economic and democratic harms they cause, and also nominate designated employees in Australia who can be held responsible for bad behaviour.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland will on Thursday introduce a crackdown on misinformation and disinformation online, while Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, KC, will also introduce Labor’s new anti-doxxing laws alongside the biggest overhaul of privacy legislation.
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones will also on Friday release consultation on a new scams code that would compensate for victims and create new penalties for businesses that fail to meet obligations. These will initially apply to banks, telcos, and social media platforms.
The moves come after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday said he would support all the states and territories to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media, with an age threshold of between 13 and 16.
The Albanese government is considering how best to force tech giants to pay for the costs of enforcing the new laws, as well as pay publishers for content outside the News Media Bargaining Code, after Facebook owner Meta refused to renegotiate deals with media companies earlier this year.
