David Inserra
David Inserra

The Australian government pulled its misinformation bill after the revised version continued to face domestic backlash and international criticism for empowering the government to police online speech. The bill would have allowed the government to censor speech based on vague, contradictory standards that would all but guarantee biased enforcement by the government of the day.

But before we give the Australian government a “good on ya,” they’ve already proposed another bill that is about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. Both major parties are backing a bill that would ban all users under 16 from using social media platforms. The legislation is similar to other age verification-type proposals that have been passed in some US states, several of which have been enjoined by the courts, as well as the UK’s Online Safety Act. 

While such efforts are constitutionally dubious in the US, the UK and other nations like Australia do not have such robust speech protections. For example, the UK’s Online Safety Act threatens to unravel encryption and demands that online platforms either verify the age of users or otherwise sanitize their products for all users so that children do not see any harmful content. Add in the UK’s frightening increase in policing a host of speech and thought crimes, and the lack of legal protections for expression becomes obvious.

But not to be outdone, Australia’s new bill simply bans those under 16 from expressing themselves online. Australia is not only learning the wrong lessons from the UK, but it has, unfortunately, also served as an incubator for bad online speech policies that then spread around the world. Take for example their “link tax” bill which was copied in Canada and has been proposed in the US or their “E‑safety Commission,” which Canada considered copying. 

So Australians,  » Read More
https://www.cato.org/blog/australias-withdraws-one-bad-online-speech-bill-it-advances-another