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Breaches face fines up to 5% of global revenue

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Bill seeks to prevent election, public health

disinformation

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Free speech advocates warn of censorship

By Byron Kaye

SYDNEY, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Australia said it will fine

internet platforms up to 5% of their global revenue for failing

to prevent the spread of misinformation online, joining a

worldwide push to rein in borderless tech giants but angering

free speech advocates.

The government said it would make tech platforms set codes

of conduct governing how they stop dangerous falsehoods

spreading, to be approved by a regulator. The regulator would

set its own standard if a platform failed to do so, then fine

companies for non-compliance.

The legislation, to be introduced in parliament on Thursday,

targets false content that hurts election integrity or public

health, calls for denouncing a group or injuring a person, or

risks disrupting key infrastructure or emergency services.

The bill is part of a wide-ranging regulatory crackdown by

Australia, where leaders have complained that foreign-domiciled

tech platforms are overriding the country's sovereignty, and

comes ahead of a federal election due within a year.

Already Facebook owner Meta has said it may block

professional news content if it is forced to pay royalties,

while X, formerly Twitter, has removed most content moderation

since being bought by billionaire Elon Musk in 2022.

"Misinformation and disinformation pose a serious threat to

the safety and wellbeing of Australians, as well as to our

democracy, society and economy," said Communications Minister

Michelle Rowland in a statement.

"Doing nothing and allowing this problem to fester is not an

option."

An initial version of the bill was criticised in 2023 for

giving the Australian Communications and Media Authority too

much power to determine what constituted misinformation and

disinformation, the term for intentionally spreading lies.

Rowland said the new bill specified the media regulator

would not have power to force the takedown of individual pieces

of content or user accounts. The new version of the bill

protected professional news, artistic and religious content,

while it did not protect government-authorised content.

Some four-fifths of Australians wanted the spread of

misinformation addressed, the minister said, citing the

Australian Media Literary Alliance.

Meta, which counts nearly nine in 10 Australians as Facebook

users, declined to comment. Industry body DIGI, of which Meta is

a member, said the new regime reinforced an anti-misinformation

code it produced in 2022, but many questions remained.

X was not immediately available for comment.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said that

while he had yet to examine the revised bill, "Australians'

legitimately-held political beliefs should not be censored by

either the government, or by foreign social media platforms".