Australia’s SydneyThe government of Australia announced on Sunday that it has abandoned plans to punish internet companies up to 5% of their worldwide turnover for their inability to stop the spread of false material online.
Ahead of a federal election that is scheduled for within a year, the law was part of Australia’s extensive regulatory crackdown, in which politicians have expressed dissatisfaction about foreign-domiciled internet platforms displacing the nation’s sovereignty.
There is no way to pass this idea through the Senate, according to public remarks and interactions with senators, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said in a statement.
According to Rowland, the law would have brought about a previously unheard-of degree of openness by making large corporations answerable for their systems and procedures to stop and lessen the propagation of damaging misinformation and disinformation online.
According to the minister, whose center-left Labor government has lagged behind the conservative opposition alliance in recent polling, about four out of five Australians wanted the propagation of false information to be stopped.
According to Sky News, the measure was rejected by the Australian Greens, cross-bench senators, and the Liberal-National coalition.
In comments broadcast on Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Sunday, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young referred to the government measure as a half-baked option.
Meta is a member of the industry group DIGI, which has stated that the planned regime strengthened an already-existing anti-misinformation code.
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