Further amendments to the Online Safety Act have passed parliament. Now to the deal with Labor’s incoming Digital Duty of Care bill. Photo: Iconiq Visuals.
Federal Government legislation to double fines for tech firms breaching the under-16s social media ban passed Parliament with the help of the Greens and some independent senators, including the ACT’s David Pocock.
Maximum penalties for systematic breaches of the minimum age laws will jump from $49.5 million to $99 million for the tech giants, while individual executives refusing to comply could face fines up to $364,000 and jail terms of up to 12 months.
The amendment to the Online Safety Act also gives eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant new powers to gather information and force companies to prove compliance with the new laws.
The Opposition voted against the bill, saying the changes were government overreach.
Communication Minister Anika Wells, however, said Labor stood with Australian families on the right side of history.
“Australian families will not forget the senators and members who sold them out for political points from the far right,” she said on Thursday (10 September).
“Today the Coalition voted against Labor’s bill to strengthen Australia’s social media minimum age laws.
“The modern Coalition has no shame, putting politics ahead of what Australians have demanded of their elected representatives.
“The Coalition chose to run a protection racket for big tech instead of backing Australian families and kids.”
Government overreach is also the broad reason the Coalition is using to flag its intention to oppose Labor’s next move on social media firms, which is to mandate an algorithm opt-out provision for all users.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said Labor’s draft Digital Duty of Care legislation allows too much ministerial discretion.
“That is not acceptable to the Coalition in its current form,” Mr Taylor said.
“Can I say that this is a government that cannot be trusted. This is a Minister who cannot be trusted … We should have free debate… It is incredibly important that we don’t have a minister controlling with a blank cheque what we see on the internet.”
Under Labor’s plan, online games, apps and AI chatbots will be required to protect under-18s from design features that have negative behavioural impacts, such as addictive features or those that can affect a young person’s self-esteem.
These include content that promotes, encourages or accelerates eating disorders; hostile ideas about women and gender equality; pornography; glorifies crime or life-endangering stunts; or causes serious mental health distress, including abuse and bullying.
Anthony Albanese has rejected any suggestion the bill could amount to political censorship.
“It’s not about censorship. It’s about giving people control themselves over what they see,” the Prime Minister said.
“We can emphatically rule that out. This is about basic safety standards online for online services and about the onus being on big tech to identify risks on their platform and to mitigate against those risks.”
The Coalition doesn’t quite see it that way.
Nationals leader Matt Canavan echoed Mr Taylor’s concerns, saying neither the PM nor Ms Wells could be trusted on the issue.
“This bill is not in place to protect the people of Australia. It is a bill to protect politicians,” Senator Canavan said.
“It’s a bill that will allow the government to dictate what you can say and see online. And we can never have that in place in this country.”
Shadow communications minister Sarah Henderson agreed there needs to be a debate about algorithms, but that it shouldn’t be wrapped up in the “Trojan horse” duty of care bill.
She said Labor was using the bill to censor Australians online and threaten free speech.
“The minister has given herself unfettered powers to make regulations in relation to any category of harm without parliamentary oversight,” Senator Henderson said.
The government intends to introduce the legislation proper to parliament in October and hopes to have it passed this year.
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
