Australia’s prime minister and his deputy have warned social media giants they will be required to unmask anonymous social media users in a bid to crackdown on misinformation.
On Thursday Scott Morrison warned social media companies they must take action against “cowards” who vilify, harass or defame others – or else be liable as publishers.
Barnaby Joyce, the deputy prime minister, initiated the calls for stronger action in an interview refuting “malicious” rumours about his family.
Joyce said it was “absolutely essential” to do more to crack down on misinformation, suggesting he will seek input into US congressional hearings into social media giants.
The attorney general, Michaelia Cash, has indicated Australia will also revamp its defamation laws to deal with online defamation, writing to her state and territory counterparts proposing to counteract a high court decision that administrators of social media pages are liable for comments on their posts even before they are aware of the comments.
Australia has proactively regulated social media companies with respect to cyberbullying, violent extremist material and revenue sharing with traditional media publishers, but has taken a more hands-off approach to misinformation.
On Wednesday the communications minister, Paul Fletcher, said there was “no question” that misinformation is a problem, but has so far taken a wait-and-see approach to a new voluntary code of conduct the government asked social media companies to draw up.
On Thursday Joyce upped the ante by complaining that social media giants “make billions” but “don’t own responsibility for what’s happening on their platforms” because they claim they “can’t monitor” what people are saying.
“You can’t say that ‘my platform is a vessel of free speech’, then the people who speak on that vessel don’t give their names, they don’t identify who they are and you therefore allow people to stand on that platform and throw bricks at passing motorists,” the deputy prime minister told Radio National.
Asked about rumours relating to his family, Joyce revealed that his daughter had been the subject of “completely malicious rumours” that “she’d been in a relationship with [former NSW deputy premier] John Barilaro and that is why he left”. “It’s total and utter rubbish.”
Joyce said that local media outlets had approached him for comment but, when asked for their source, they pointed to comments made on Facebook and Twitter.
Asked later about Joyce’s comments, Morrison said “cowards who go anonymously on social media and vilify people, and harass them, and bully them, and engage in defamatory statements, they need to be responsible for what they’re saying”.
“Social media has become a coward’s palace where people can go on there, not say who they are, destroy people’s lives, and say the most foul and offensive things to people, and do so with impunity,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“Now that’s not a free country where that happens. That’s not right. They should have to identify who they are, and you know, the companies, if they’re not going to say who they are, well, they’re not a platform any more, they’re a publisher.”
Morrison said Australia had been a “world leader” on regulation of social media and “you can expect us to be leaning further into this”.
In September the high court ruled against media companies who sought to escape liability for defamatory third-party comments on their social media posts on the basis they were not the publisher of those comments.
The decision has wide implications for all administrators of social media pages, including media companies, and has already led international news outlet CNN to disable its Facebook page in Australia. Guardian Australia has recently turned comments off on most Facebook posts but allows reader interaction on a small number.
In a letter seen by Guardian Australia, Cash told state attorneys general that stakeholders’ reaction to the Voller decision meant the next stage of reforms “to ensure that defamation law is fit-for-purpose in the digital age remains critical”.
States and territories are due to consider the liability of internet intermediaries for defamatory materials as part of the second stage of uniform defamation reforms.
“The work of the defamation working party will enable closer consideration of appropriate protections for individuals and organisations with social media accounts, including in relation to defamatory materials posted by third parties,” she wrote.
This will include consideration of a default defamation defence that digital platforms and Facebook page administrators are not primary distributors of material posted by third parties.
On Thursday Cash said “it is clear that parts of defamation law are not fit-for-purpose.”
“The Voller case presents a considerable liability for all publishers that will only lead to more court action. Reform is critical,” she reportedly told the Australian.
“We need to balance freedom of speech with the protection of reputations in a digital era where unfiltered commentary has been amplified by social media.
“There are plenty of solutions on the table, and I look forward to working with my state and territory colleagues to reach them.”