Party heavyweights call for social media ‘rinse out’
Andrew Brown |
Social media companies have been taken to task amid a growing bipartisan push for the platforms to do more to combat misinformation and graphic images online after the Sydney knife attacks.
Calls have grown for harsher penalties for the platforms following Saturday’s Bondi Junction stabbing, after distressing footage of the stabbing attack was uploaded online, as well as misinformation about the shopping centre massacre.
Following a week marked by trauma and anger over the incident, Government Services Minister Bill Shorten urged social media companies to adhere to their social licence.
“It’s unimaginable what’s happened. The social media companies need a big rinse out, frankly,” Mr Shorten told Nine’s Today program on Friday.
“It’s a bit of a shame it takes the government to sort of play whack-a-mole here to shut down the horrible images.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says a harsher crackdown is needed for platforms that fail to comply with take down requests of offensive content.
“They’ve got a complete contempt for families, for kids who spent a lot of time on social media and the influence that they exert needs to have that social licence,” he said on the same program.
Following the stabbings, the eSafety commissioner urged people not to share graphic images from the massacre online.
The online safety watchdog received a small number of reports from the public relating to the stabbing attack.
Education Minister Jason Clare says the government is considering options for tougher sanctions for social media companies who fail to take content down following requests by the watchdog.
“The advice I’ve got is that Facebook did a reasonable job, but Twitter hasn’t, that there was still information days and days after these attacks took place,” he told Seven’s Sunrise program.
“There’s penalties there of $500,000 for companies, $100,000 for individuals, we’re looking at what more needs to be done here as well.”
Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said social media giants were required to play their role in not having graphic content being shared widely.
“I’m so sick of these social media platforms, I’m so sick of their excuses. They’re parents too, they have a responsibility,” she said.
“We’ll support the government in cracking down, getting tougher and findings ways of getting outside this sort of voluntary compliance routine that exists right now.”
AAP
