‘Right to be forgotten’ laws to be backed for cyberbullied children

Queensland is about to secure federal support for laws that are fiercely opposed by web giants such as Google and Facebook. But the Prime Minister will only back them to a point.

CHILD victims of cyber bullying and revenge porn could demand distressing photos and information be blocked from internet searches under a plan to be endorsed by federal and state leaders today.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is prepared to back a call from Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for controversial “right to be forgotten” laws that will be fiercely opposed by web giants such as Google and Facebook, The Courier-Mail can reveal.

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But Mr Morrison will try to limit the fallout by only agreeing to work on a plan that would give rights to children under the age of 18 who are being cyberbullied.

Adults would not be covered by the proposed laws, nor would people who simply wanted to delete embarrassing social media posts they later regretted.

Mr Morrison will agree to work with state and territory governments on the proposed laws at the Council of Australian Governments summit in Adelaide today, it can be revealed.

The laws were proposed by Ms Palaszczuk after her anti-cyberbullying taskforce called for a suite of changes to stamp out the disturbing trend that led to the death of 14-year-old Queensland schoolgirl Amy “Dolly” Everett.

Under the Queensland plan, content would not be removed from websites but it would be scrubbed from search engine results so people could not find it online.