The image is from thehacker stock.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is introducing new defamation laws that will force online platforms to reveal the identities of troll or pay the price for defamation. ABC News Australia explains that the laws would hold social platforms accountable for defamation.
If people feel that they are a victim of defamation, platforms will have to create a complaint system. The person who posted the potentially defamatory content will be asked to take it down. The platform can legally ask the poster for permission to reveal their contact information if they refuse or if the victim is interested in pursuing legal action.
If the platform can't get the poster's consent? The laws would allow tech giants to reveal a user's identity without their permission. If the platforms refuse to identify the troll, the company will have to pay for his defamatory comments. Since the law is specific to Australia, social networks wouldn't have to identify troll in other countries.
The online world shouldn't be a wild west.
Morrison said during the press conference that the online world should not be a wild west where people can harm each other. There is no case for that happening in the digital world.
The draft of the anti-troll legislation is expected this week, and will likely not reach Parliament until the beginning of next year, according to ABC News Australia. It's not clear which specific details the platforms would be asked to collect. We don't know how severe the case of defamation would have to be to warrant revealing someone's identity. There are serious threats to privacy posed by a loose definition of defamation.
Legislation is part of a larger effort to change Australia's defamation laws. In September, Australia's High Court ruled that news sites should be held liable for comments made by the public on their social media pages. CNN has blocked Australians from accessing their Facebook page. The ruling implies that individuals running social pages can be held responsible for any defamatory comments left on their pages.
