Tech industry warned to self-regulate hate speech

Lucas BairdReporter

Aug 12, 2019 – 3.00pm

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Key Points

The AustCyber chief has urged the tech industry to take a stand on hate speech.
She said it's not good enough for websites to be idle on the content they host.
The desire to moderate the internet is not a free speech issue, she says.
The comments follow a government minister proposing heavier regulation of the internet.

The nation's peak cyber security industry group, AustCyber, has urged the tech industry to take a hardline stance against hate speech on its platforms, or risk facing more authoritative government regulation.

The call, issued by the body's chief executive Michelle Price, came after the issue came into focus again, when a United States-based shooter telegraphed his racially motivated massacre in El Paso on the web forum 8chan this month.

Lucas Baird is a journalist based in The Australian Financial Review's Sydney office.