MEMBER for Mallee Anne Webster wants to make social media giants liable as publishers if they don’t remove allegedly defamatory material.
Dr Webster last week introduced to Federal Parliament the Social Media (Basic Expectations and Defamation) Bill 2021, which would make companies such as Facebook and Twitter liable if they didn’t remove defamatory material within 48 hours of receiving a notice from the eSafety commissioner.
“(Social media) has never been more entrenched in our lives than right now,” Dr Webster told parliament.
“Many of us, and, importantly, our children and grandchildren, have been glued to screens throughout the pandemic.
“Right now, we can only guess what impact this will have on their minds and mental health into the future.
“This is why we need to do everything possible to ensure social media is safe for all users.”
Dr Webster said while the government was working to prevent the spread of dangerous material through the Online Safety Act, it had to go further and hold social media services to account for the content posted on their websites.
“So, when content that seriously defames another person is promoted to a wider audience, the social media service, along with the end user, should be responsible for damages,” she said.
“For too long social media platforms have hidden behind the shield of protecting free speech, while at the same time moderating their platforms – often with arbitrary rules.”
Dr Webster was inspired to take action after she, husband Philip, and the charity they founded, Zoe Support, to help single mothers access education, were the target of “unrelenting” defamatory accusations on Facebook.
The perpetrator was ordered to pay damages of $875,000.
Dr Webster said the claims were widely distributed and reached local networks in the Mallee.
“To this day I still see echoes of the insane conspiracies this person continues to espouse,” she said.
The Bill would enable the minister to set out expectations of social media services regarding the hosting of material on social media platforms.
In doing so, the minister must have regard to the importance of social media services, the value of truth and free debate, the harmfulness of defamation and the importance of preventing social media services from being used to facilitate unlawful conduct.
It also sets out a process whereby members of the public could make a complaint to the eSafety commissioner if they had reason to believe that they were being defamed by material posted on a social media service.
The Bill gives the commissioner the power to issue defamation notices to a service provider in circumstances where a complaint regarding defamatory material has been made.
If the commissioner issued a defamation notice to a provider and the material was not removed within 48 hours, the service provider could be liable for defamation.
