Labor slams government’s new social media legislation saying it could criminalise journalism

Labor has promised to review the government’s crackdown on social media companies over concerns the rushed new laws will criminalise news reporting because the poorly drafted does not achieve its intended purpose and has other chilling effects.

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Labor has promised to review the government’s crackdown on social media companies over concerns the rushed new laws will criminalise news reporting.

Opposition Attorney-General spokesman Mark Dreyfus said the bill was so poorly drafted that it did not achieve its intended purpose — yet had a raft of other chilling effects.

“We share the concerns of the media companies, particularly concerning inadequate protections for public interest journalism,” he said.

Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus described the legislation as ‘poorly drafted’. Picture: AAP

“Let’s be clear — Labor believes that social media companies can do better and they must do better.

“What happened following the Christchurch attack must never happen again.”

The government will this week push through laws meant to jail social media executives or hand companies massive fines for failing to quickly remove violent material in the wake of the Christchurch massacre.

Under the proposal the eSafety Commission could demand any website, including news outlets, take down material or face criminal prosecution.

But Australia’s biggest media companies and legal experts fear it will have unintended consequences, including preventing reporting on whistleblowers bringing attention to violent atrocities.

Law Council president Arthur Moses said the laws were a “knee-jerk reaction” to a tragic event and called for a thorough consultation process.

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A spokeswoman for News Corp Australia, publisher of The Daily Telegraph, supported the intent of the bill, to make digital platforms liable for what they publish, but warned the laws as drafted were more far reaching. “While we have worked with the government to try to minimise the impact, this law risks criminalising news reporting and provides significant powers to the eSafety Commissioner to take down news content,” she said.

“In the rush to pass this law it will not be subjected to any review. “

The spokeswoman urged the government to join with Labor and commit to a bipartisan Parliamentary Joint Security on Intelligence and Security review of this law immediately after the election.

Attorney-general Christian Porter said that the laws had been designed carefully to ensure they did not affect the ability of news media to report on events in the public interest.

“No mainstream media in Australia has ever shown rape or murder. Facebook has,” he said.

“Australians, particularly Australian children, should never be subject to witnessing such abhorrent material and this bill will help prevent that occurring.”

Attorney-General Christian Porter said that the laws had been designed carefully to ensure they did not affect the ability of news media to report on events in the public interest. Picture: Gary Ramage

But Mr Dreyfus said the government’s bill was so rushed that it even failed to fulfil the prime minister’s key promise to jail social media executives.