Australia's Parliament passes legislation that could imprison social media executives if their platforms stream real violence such as the New Zealand mosque shootings.
Australia's Attorney-General Christian Porter, left, and Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield hold a press conference at Parliament House, in Canberra, Wednesday, April 4, 2019. Australia's Parliament passed legislation that could imprison social media executives if their platforms stream violent images such as the New Zealand mosque shootings.
Australia’s government rushed the legislation through the last two days that Parliament sits before elections are expected in May, dispensing with the usual procedure of a committee scrutinizing its content first. Abhorrent violent material is defined as acts of terrorism, murder, attempted murder, torture, rape and kidnapping. The material must be recorded by the perpetrator or an accomplice for the law to apply.
“Labor believes that the social media companies must do more in preventing the dissemination of material produced by terrorists, showing of their crimes, and for that reason Labor will, despite reservations ... be supporting the passage of this bill,” Dreyfus said. The penalties would be “bad for certainty and bad for business,” which could scare off online business investment in Australia, Moses said.
Alex McCauley, chief executive of national tech startup advocacy organization StartupAUS, described the legislation as “anti-tech.”
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