Australia Proposes Anti-Troll Law Where Social Networks Expose Bullies
Image via Primakov / Shutterstock.com
An internet troll is, at best, an annoyance that comes with being online. After all, who’s out to regulate the wide expanse of the internet, and how is that supposed to be done in the first place?
We might never know the answer, but Australia seems to be making somewhat of a start.
In a press conference on Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced plans for a new law that would, essentially, make it necessary for social media companies to dox a user—who posts defamatory comments or harasses another user—to the government.
This would “unmask” them, removing the protection of anonymity that many trolls benefit from.
“The online world should not be a wild west where bots and bigots and trolls and others are anonymously going around and can harm people,” Morrison stated during the televised press briefing.
“That is not what can happen in the real world, and there is no case for it to be able to be happening in the digital world.”
If the law is passed, a user who is a target of online bullying can file a complaint using a new system, which would require the platform to remove these posts. If a site refuses to delete the offensive material, the court system would have the power to get them to hand over details about the user who made the posts.
A new legislation like this, if passed, appears to be the next step in the country’s push for the internet to be a safer place for its users. Previously, it had ruled that publishers were responsible for comments posted on their pages, even defamatory ones.
This caused some publications like CNN to remove their social media pages in Australia, per Reuters.
“These online companies must have proper processes to enable the takedown of this content,” Morrison continued.
“There needs to be an easy and quick and fast way for people to raise these issues with these platforms and get it taken down. They have that responsibility. They’ve created this space and they need to make it safe.”
While it might’ve been drafted as a protective measure, there’s also a risk—as with most regulations to do with identity disclosure—that it may be abused if fallen into the wrong hands, or could be twisted to track down users who challenge authority.
As of now, there is no indication of how severely “bad” a comment has to be before the companies will be made to step in, and how this will be measured. ABC News Australia has reported that a draft of this law is expected later this week.
[via Gizmodo, cover image via Primakov / Shutterstock.com]
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