{"id":81152,"date":"2023-07-17T11:30:05","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T01:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=81152"},"modified":"2023-07-17T10:57:03","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T00:57:03","slug":"more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/","title":{"rendered":"More stick, less carrot: Australia\u2019s new approach to tackling fake news"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"763\" height=\"457\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-81158\" src=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/GettyImages-1209693436.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/GettyImages-1209693436.jpg 763w, https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/GettyImages-1209693436-205x123.jpg 205w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 763px) 100vw, 763px\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>An urgent problem for governments around the world in the digital age is how to tackle the harms caused by mis- and disinformation, and Australia is no exception.<\/p>\n<p>Together, mis- and disinformation fall under the umbrella term of \u2018fake news\u2019. While this phenomenon isn\u2019t new, the internet makes its rapid, vast spread unprecedented.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a tricky problem and hard to police because of the sheer amount of misinformation online. But, left unchecked, public health and safety, electoral integrity, social cohesion and ultimately democracy are at risk. The Covid-19 pandemic taught us not to be complacent, as fake news about Covid treatments led to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC8611855\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">deadly consequences<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But what\u2019s the best way to manage the spread of fake news? How can it be done without government overreach, which risks the freedom and diversity of expression necessary for deliberation in healthy democracies?<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland released a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.infrastructure.gov.au\/department\/media\/publications\/communications-legislation-amendment-combatting-misinformation-and-disinformation-bill-2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">draft exposure bill<\/a>\u00a0to step up Australia\u2019s fight against harmful online mis- and disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>It offers more stick (hefty penalties) and less carrot (voluntary participation) than the current approach to managing online content.<\/p>\n<p>If passed, the bill will bring us closer to the European Union-style model of mandatory co-regulation.<\/p>\n<p>According to the draft, disinformation is spread intentionally, while misinformation is not.<\/p>\n<p>But both can cause serious harms including hate speech, financial harm and disruption of public order, according to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/eprints.qut.edu.au\/236986\/1\/Regulating_misinfo_Meese_Hurcombe.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Research<\/a> has shown that countries tend to approach this problem in three distinct ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">non-regulatory \u2018supporting activities\u2019 such as digital literacy campaigns and fact-checking units to debunk falsehoods<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">voluntary or mandatory co-regulatory measures involving digital platforms and media authorities<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">anti-fake-news laws.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Initial opinions about the bill are divided. Some\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.skynews.com.au\/opinion\/chris-kenny\/acma-agency-being-given-position-as-the-official-censor-of-the-internet\/video\/ac27a65a775b137318dd0954851312a6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">commentators<\/a>\u00a0have called the proposed changes \u2018censorship\u2019, arguing it will have a chilling effect on free speech.<\/p>\n<p>These comments are often unhelpful because they conflate co-regulation with more draconian measures such anti-fake-news laws adopted in illiberal states like Russia, whereby governments arbitrarily rule what information is \u2018fake\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>For example, Russia amended its\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cpj.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Guide-to-Understanding-the-Laws-Relating-to-Fake-News-in-Russia.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Criminal Code<\/a>\u00a0in 2022 to make the spread of \u2018fake\u2019 information an offence punishable with jail terms of up to 15 years, to suppress the media and political dissent about its war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>To be clear, under the proposed Australian bill, platforms continue to be responsible for the content on their services\u2014not governments.<\/p>\n<p>The new powers allow ACMA to look under a platform\u2019s hood to see how it deals with online mis- and disinformation that can cause serious harm, and to request changes to processes (not content). ACMA can set industry standards as a last resort.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed changes don\u2019t give ACMA arbitrary powers to determine what content is true or false, nor can it direct specific posts to be removed. The content of private messages, authorised electoral communications, parody and satire, and news media all remains outside the scope of the proposed changes.<\/p>\n<p>None of this is new. Since 2021, Australia has had a voluntary\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/digi.org.au\/disinformation-code\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation<\/a>, developed for digital platforms by their industry association, the Digital Industry Group (known as DIGI).<\/p>\n<p>This followed government recommendations arising out of a lengthy Australian Competition and Consumer Commission inquiry into digital platforms. This first effort at online regulation was a good start to stem harmful content using an opt-in model.<\/p>\n<p>But voluntary codes have shortfalls. The most obvious is that not all platforms decide to participate, and some cherrypick the areas of the code they will respond to.<\/p>\n<p>The Australian government is now seeking to deliver on a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.paulfletcher.com.au\/media-releases\/new-disinformation-laws\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bipartisan<\/a>\u00a0promise to strengthen the regulators\u2019 powers to tackle online mis- and disinformation by shifting to a mandatory co-regulatory model.<\/p>\n<p>Under the proposed changes, ACMA will be given new information-gathering powers and capacity to formally request that an industry association (such as DIGI) vary or replace codes that aren\u2019t up to scratch.<\/p>\n<p>Platform participation with registered codes will be compulsory and attract warnings, fines and, if unresolved, hefty court-approved penalties for noncompliance.<\/p>\n<p>These penalties are steep\u2014as much as 5% of a platform\u2019s annual global turnover if it is repeatedly in breach of industry standards.<\/p>\n<p>The move from voluntary to mandatory regulation in Australia is logical.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu\/en\/policies\/digital-services-act-package\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The EU<\/a>\u00a0has set the foundation for other countries to hold digital technology companies responsible for curbing mis- and disinformation on their platforms.<\/p>\n<p>But the draft bill raises important questions that need to be addressed before it is legislated as planned for later this year. Among them are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">how to best define mis- and disinformation (the definitions in the draft are different from DIGI\u2019s)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">how to deal with the interrelationship between mis- and disinformation, especially regarding election content. There\u2019s a potential issue because <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/benjamins.com\/catalog\/jlp.21030.car\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">research<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> shows that the same content labelled \u2018disinformation\u2019 can also be labelled \u2018misinformation\u2019 depending on the online user\u2019s motive, which can be hard to divine<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and why exclude online news media content? Research has shown that news media can also be a source of harmful misinformation (such as 2019 election stories about the \u2018<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/benjamins.com\/catalog\/jlp.21030.car\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">death tax<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While aiming to mitigate harmful mis- and disinformation is noble, how it will work in practice remains to be seen.<\/p>\n<p>An important guard against unintended consequences is to ensure that ACMA\u2019s powers are carefully defined along with terms and likely circumstances requiring action, with mechanisms for appeal.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.infrastructure.gov.au\/have-your-say\/new-acma-powers-combat-misinformation-and-disinformation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">closing date for public submissions<\/a> is 6 August.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/209599\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An urgent problem for governments around the world in the digital age is how to tackle the harms caused by mis- and disinformation, and Australia is no exception. Together, mis- and disinformation fall under the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1772,"featured_media":81158,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[416,2279,1849,724],"class_list":["post-81152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-australian-government","tag-disinformation","tag-fake-news","tag-regulatory-frameworks"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>More stick, less carrot: Australia\u2019s new approach to tackling fake news | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"More stick, less carrot: Australia\u2019s new approach to tackling fake news | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An urgent problem for governments around the world in the digital age is how to tackle the harms caused by mis- and disinformation, and Australia is no exception. Together, mis- and disinformation fall under the ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-17T01:30:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-17T00:57:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/GettyImages-1209693436.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"763\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"457\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andrea Carson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andrea Carson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI&#039;s analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/GettyImages-1209693436.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/GettyImages-1209693436.jpg\",\"width\":763,\"height\":457,\"caption\":\"Close up of people using mobile smart phones - Detail of friends sharing photos on social media network with smartphone - Technology concept and cellphone culture with selective focus on right hand\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/\",\"name\":\"More stick, less carrot: Australia\u2019s new approach to tackling fake news | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-17T01:30:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-17T00:57:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/7036e52a84c2dfb8daf1b367a633bf7b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"More stick, less carrot: Australia\u2019s new approach to tackling fake news\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/7036e52a84c2dfb8daf1b367a633bf7b\",\"name\":\"Andrea Carson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2bf78894261e481a99db0a5309ada660?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2bf78894261e481a99db0a5309ada660?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andrea Carson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/andrea-carson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"More stick, less carrot: Australia\u2019s new approach to tackling fake news | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"More stick, less carrot: Australia\u2019s new approach to tackling fake news | The Strategist","og_description":"An urgent problem for governments around the world in the digital age is how to tackle the harms caused by mis- and disinformation, and Australia is no exception. Together, mis- and disinformation fall under the ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2023-07-17T01:30:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-17T00:57:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":763,"height":457,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/GettyImages-1209693436.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Andrea Carson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andrea Carson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI&#039;s analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/GettyImages-1209693436.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/GettyImages-1209693436.jpg","width":763,"height":457,"caption":"Close up of people using mobile smart phones - Detail of friends sharing photos on social media network with smartphone - Technology concept and cellphone culture with selective focus on right hand"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/","name":"More stick, less carrot: Australia\u2019s new approach to tackling fake news | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2023-07-17T01:30:05+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-17T00:57:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/7036e52a84c2dfb8daf1b367a633bf7b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/more-stick-less-carrot-australias-new-approach-to-tackling-fake-news\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"More stick, less carrot: Australia\u2019s new approach to tackling fake news"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/7036e52a84c2dfb8daf1b367a633bf7b","name":"Andrea Carson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2bf78894261e481a99db0a5309ada660?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2bf78894261e481a99db0a5309ada660?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andrea Carson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/andrea-carson\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81152"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1772"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81152"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81157,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81152\/revisions\/81157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}