‘Museum of political disasters’: Truth bill dies as Greens join Coalition to block it

Labor’s controversial bid to rid the internet of misinformation is dead after the Greens revealed they would vote it down, leaving the proposal to crack down on conspiracies with no supporters in the Senate.

The Greens’ position hands Labor a defeat on a key plank of its broader battle against big tech, which also includes an under-16 social media ban opposed by the Greens, Musk and platforms such as Meta.

Not a single senator outside the Labor Party has said they would support Communications Minister Michelle Rowland’s plan.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The Coalition has waged a months-long campaign against Labor’s plan to give a regulator power to pressure social media giants to stamp out false posts, arguing that these laws would have been used to censor arguments against the Voice to parliament during last year’s failed referendum.

Communication Minister Michelle Rowland’s bill handed social media firms the power to determine what was true or false to avoid the perception that government bureaucrats would make those calls. Firms such as X and Meta would need to prove they were acting on complaints.

But in delegating the call on misinformation to corporations, Labor lost the support of the left-wing minor party, whose communications spokesman Sarah Hanson-Young said she would block Labor’s bill because it allowed social media firms to self-regulate.

“The Greens understand that mis- and disinformation is a growing danger to democracy, public discourse, health and safety both in Australia and around the world and needs to be tackled,” she said in a statement.

“However we are concerned this bill doesn’t actually do what it needs to do when it comes to stopping the deliberate mass distribution of false and harmful information.

“It gives media moguls like Murdoch an exemption and hands over responsibility to tech companies and billionaires like Elon Musk to determine what is true or false under ambiguous definitions.”

Her stance highlights the difficulty in finding consensus on the vexed question of misinformation that has dominated global debate as tech platforms have tested the limits of free speech. Algorithms at platforms such as Facebook and TikTok have fed sponsored or targeted posts to users, which security agencies warn has increased polarisation and radicalism.

While the Greens want a tougher law, Coalition communications spokesman David Coleman has portrayed the Labor plan as an Orwellian ministry of truth.

“This appalling legislation was a national embarrassment and a terrible reflection on the values of the Albanese government,” Coleman said.

“The looming defeat of the bill should end the era of Mr Albanese and his colleagues trying to tell Australians what they can and cannot say.”

“Australians are not afraid of robust political debate – in fact we welcome it. But Labor wanted to suppress that freedom and make government officials the arbiters of truth. The bill was an absolute disgrace and it now heads to the museum of political disasters.”

Not a single senator outside the Labor Party has said they would vote for the bill due to reach the Senate next week.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.