The communications minister’s department warned the Albanese government its draft misinformation and disinformation bill was likely to spark claims of government censorshipand urged the government to correct the record often.
The minister, Michelle Rowland, announced last month that the government would overhaul a draft bill targeting misinformation and disinformation online after strong pushback against the proposal, delaying its introduction into parliament until 2024.
Under the proposal, the Australian Communications and Media Authority would have been empowered to require social media companies to toughen their policies on “content [that] is false, misleading or deceptive, and where the provision of that content on the service is reasonably likely to cause or contribute to serious harm”.
The government consultation drew 23,000 responses, including 3,000 submissions, many of which were critical of the bill. The large response also came after campaigns against the bill from the Coalition, One Nation and the former LNP MP George Christensen all claiming it would amount to government censorship.
A cabinet submission document from earlier this year, released under freedom of information laws, reveals the department harboured concerns that there would be strong push back to the legislation.
“While the public debate in Australia regarding freedom of speech is not as shrill as in the United States (in particular), there is still a risk that these proposed powers could be perceived as a form of censorship,” the department noted, pointing to a “notable rise in conspiracy theories being promulgated by Australians including the ‘sovereign citizen’ movements”.
The department urged the government to learn lessons from the US’s Disinformation Governance Board, which was disbanded after three weeks. The department said it would be important to be transparent and respond promptly to counter claims about the government’s intention.
“This will be critical given that consultation on the [exposure draft] Bill will occur concurrently with the Australian Indigenous voice to parliament referendum process,” the department said.
Factcheckers and targeting misinformation became a key issue in the voice debate, as Sky News hosts criticised Meta and RMIT Factcheck over checking key claims related to the voice.
In a June letter included in the FoI documents released, Rowland tells the prime minister it was her intention to introduce the misinformation bill into parliament in the spring sitting period. The government ultimately decided to delay and rewrite parts of the proposed bill in response to the public consultation.
A spokesperson for the communications minister said the government “is committed to holding powerful digital platforms to account for seriously harmful misinformation and disinformation on their services. We’ve been clear about what this proposal would and would not do.”
The department has uploaded less than half the submissions received. They’re being published in the order they were received after being reviewed by the department for potentially defamatory, offensive or abhorrent violent material, and redacting private information.
“The public consultation process sought views and elicited responses to improve the bill. Receiving this feedback was the purpose of the consultation, and we’re taking the time to work through the submissions,” the spokesperson said.
The shadow communications minister, David Coleman, said last month the Coalition remained fundamentally opposed to the bill. On Tuesday, he reacted to a notation in the document that said existing powers the minister has to direct Acma to launch an investigation under the Broadcast Services Act would also be included in this bill. It means the minister could task Acma to investigate a specific incident of misinformation.
Coleman said it was a “shocking power” not detailed in any of the draft legislation documentation released.
“This would effectively create a ‘Minister for Misinformation’ who would be able to order investigations into online views she didn’t like or agree with,” he said.
