
Australian adults can now tattle to the government if they’re being bullied on social media.
New laws allow Australia’s
Described by government officials as a
This doesn’t mean Aussies can run to the government about every single tweet they find objectionable, though. The offending posts must be “menacing, harassing or offensive,” as well as likely intended to cause “serious harm to a particular Australian adult.” This means that mere hurt feelings won’t suffice, and that posts targeting characteristics such as race or gender won’t fall under this law.
The eSafety Commissioner noted the criteria for determining what falls under “cyber‑abuse material targeted at the Australian adult” has intentionally been set high “to ensure it does not stifle freedom of speech.”
“These new laws…. place Australia at the international forefront in the fight against online abuse and harm – providing additional protections for Australians in the fight against online harms through our approach of prevention, protection, and proactive change in the online space,”
If a company refuses a request to take down a post, they may be fined up to $AU555,000. If they repeatedly refuse, the consequences can be more severe.
“Under these new laws, if websites or apps systematically ignore take down notices from eSafety for this type of content, they could see their sites delinked from search engines or their apps removed from app stores,” said Australian minister Paul Fletcher’s office in a
Mashable has reached out to Facebook and Twitter for comment.
“The internet has brought immense advantages, but also new risks, and Australians rightly expect the big tech companies to do more to make their products safer for users,”