Skip to main content

New Australian laws could jail social media execs over terror images

Australia pledged Saturday to introduce new laws that could see social media executives jailed and tech giants fined billions for failing to remove extremist material from their platforms.

The tough new legislation will be brought to parliament next week as Canberra pushes for social media companies to prevent their platforms from being “weaponised” by terrorists in the wake of the Christchurch mosque attacks.

Facebook said it “quickly” removed a staggering 1.5 million videos of the white supremacist massacre livestreamed on the social media platform.

A 17-minute video of the March 15 rampage that claimed the lives of 50 people was widely available online and experts said was easily retrievable several hours after the attack.

“Big social media companies have a responsibility to take every possible action to ensure their technology products are not exploited by murderous terrorists,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement.

Morrison, who met with a number of tech firms Tuesday — including Facebook, Twitter and Google — said Australia would encourage other G20 nations to hold social media firms to account.

Attorney-General Christian Porter said the new laws would make it a criminal offence for platforms not to quickly take down “abhorrent violent material” like terror attacks, murder or rape.

Executives could face up to three years in prison for failing to do so, he added, while social media platforms — whose annual revenues can stretch into the tens of billions — would face fines of up to ten percent of their annual turnover.

“Mainstream media that broadcast such material would be putting their licence at risk and there is no reason why social media platforms should be treated any differently,” Porter said.

The government was so far “underwhelmed” by the response from tech giants at their Tuesday meeting with Morrison, communications minister Mitch Fifield told reporters Saturday.

But cyber-security expert Nigel Phair, from the University of New South Wales, cast doubt over the ability of proposed Australian laws to impose jail time.

“The penalty is only for Australian domiciled executives, and on the whole they´re marketing executives, not those responsible for running and maintaining the platform,” he told broadcaster SBS earlier this week.

 

The post New Australian laws could jail social media execs over terror images appeared first on ARYNEWS.



from ARYNEWS https://ift.tt/2WvXXFv
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sialkot police bust gang of robbers, seize over Rs20m looted cash

SIALKOT: Police on Tuesday claimed to have busted an infamous gang of robbers and seized Rs20.3 million looted cash from their possession, ARY News reported. A spokesperson for the police confirmed the arrests saying the eight-member gang had looted a pharmaceutical company’s truck full of medicine. He said the looted cash to the tune of Rs20.3 million was also recovered from their possession. The police said the recovered cash and truck have been handed over to their owner. Read More: Youngster battles for life as Punjab police ‘mistakenly’ opens fire on him Earlier, on June 20, Karachi police had apprehended six robbers allegedly involved in a bank robbery of Rs10.5 million last month. The robbers had produced Rs9 million from the bank robbery in front of the police after being taken under arrest. The police also recovered the weapons used by the criminals in the bank robbery. The gang was stated to have a previous record of robbing various places in the city, the police said. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Peshawar security forces kill four suspected terrorists

The Peshawar Counter-Terrorism Department personnel gunned down four suspected terrorists after raiding their hideout on the Kohat Road Monday. According to the security forces, the suspects were plotting an attack. A cache of weapons and ammunition has been seized too. On Monday evening, a special CTD team raided the hideout after surrounding it and exchanged fire with them. No CTD personnel was injured in the operation. from SAMAA https://ift.tt/2V8MRbn
Post a Comment
Read more

Headlines 9am: Karachi to face power outages, coronavirus cases rise

Here are the headlines from SAMAA TV’s 9am bulletin. Pakistan has begun reporting fewer coronavirus infections in the last couple of days. In the last 24 hours, 3,964 cases were reported with 105 deaths. Around 73,000 recoveries have been confirmed so far. Three people were killed in a collision between a motorcycle and ambulance on the Mehran highway. A child was injured as well. Robbers looted a house in Karachi’s Azizabad in broad daylight and in the presence of a policeman. The cop chased the thieves but they were able to escape. SAMAA TV has acquired a CCTV footage of the robbery. A terrorism bid has been foiled in Peshawar. During a raid, security forces eliminated four terrorists. A cache of weapons and ammunition has been recovered. Saudi Arabia has announced it would hold a “very limited” Hajj this year owing to the coronavirus pandemic, with pilgrims already in the kingdom allowed to take part. The Kingdom has informed Pakistan about it as well. Pakistan’s Religious A...
Post a Comment
Read more