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The Australian legislature last week past a new law that could hold tech companies accountable for violent and hateful speech posted on its platforms. The Sharing of Abhorrent Violent Material Act of 2019 would punish tech companies and their executives for failing to “ensure the expeditious removal” of content posted by persons that depict certain violent acts including terrorism, murder, attempted murder, torture, rape and kidnapping.
A memorandum posted by Australia’s Parliament, points out the “The Christchurch terrorist attack on 15 March 2019 demonstrated the potential for live streaming and other video sharing platforms to be abused by extremist perpetrators to amplify their messages in the immediate aftermath of these incidents,” and this law would hold companies accountable for removing that information. Failure to do so quickly could result in fines as high as 10% of their revenue as well as prison sentences of up to 3 years for employees.
Controversy
In a posted speech, Australian parliament member Kerryn Phelps, said “Despite its best intentions, laws formulated as a knee-jerk reaction to a tragic event do not necessarily equate to good legislation and can have myriad unintended consequences. One such unintended consequence is that global
IT platforms will bypass Australia to avoid being exposed to this risk.” Phelps also raised the issue of the suppression of legitimate speech worrything that “whistleblowers may no longer be able to deploy social media to shine a light on atrocities committed around the world, because social media companies will be required to remove that content for fear of being charged with a crime.”
Susan Benesch, founder of the Dangerous Speech Project at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, told the New York Times that the law “would likely encourage increased censorship and takedowns by companies.”
Here is more coverage from Time and Gizmodo.