Scott Morrison wins support for tighter social media regulation at G20
The tech titans have agreed to restrict live streaming and divert internet users away from violent material after the world’s elite demanded they stop the spread of terror propaganda.
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Tech giants such as Facebook and Twitter will limit live streaming and divert internet users away from violent material as the world’s most powerful nations moved to stop the viral spread of terror propaganda.
The breakthrough comes as Scott Morrison found rare consensus among global leaders at the G20 summit, sending a powerful message to social media companies to do better at stopping the spread of violence.
The world’s leading economies, including the US, China, Britain and India, signed on to the 20-nation statement putting telcos and social media giants “on notice” that they must dramatically change or face legal consequences.
After months of negotiations with the federal government, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft and leading Australian telcos including Telstra and Optus have agreed to nine changes to combat violent material online.
Under the changes, new social media users will have to wait 24 hours and display a “pattern of behaviour that adheres to community standards” before they can livestream.
Social media companies have also pledged to review algorithms that may drive users towards terrorist and extreme violent material and consider code that steers people away.
The Prime Minister vowed to bring the world with him in March when he summoned tech giants to a meeting in Brisbane to discuss ways to quickly remove footage like that streamed by the gunman in the Christchurch mosque massacres.
After the past few days he convinced his international counterparts, including Donald Trump, by making the point that it was about “protecting the internet” not limiting free speech.
The breakthrough in Osaka caps off a global response led by Mr Morrison after the Christchurch terrorist attack, in which 51 people were slain, allegedly by Australian Brenton Tarrant, was streamed on Facebook for 17 minutes before it was taken down.
The social media platform was forced to remove 1.5 million copies of the video within the next 24 hours.
Mr Morrison paid tribute to world leaders, in particular Japan’s Shinzo Abe, for their support and said his priority was to keep Australians safe.
“Social media companies need to step up and recognise their responsibilities to ensure their platforms are not being weaponised by violent terrorists and extremists,” Mr Morrison said.
“We’re doing everything we can with new laws and tighter controls at home and with our international partners to stop social media platforms being abused.”
As part of the local effort, the federal government will simulate an online terror scenario, similar to a fire drill, within the next year to allow the tech sector and government agencies to practise their response.
Social media sites will also be forced to publish customer satisfaction reports every six months, which will include the number of items identified by users as violent, the number of items removed and details of how the content was detected.
As part of the transparency measure, social media companies will also be forced to reveal the average time it takes to review and remove terrorist or violent content as well as details about the number of times it was viewed by users.
WORLD UNITES TO COMBAT TERRORISM
The G20 joint statement said as world leaders it was “one of our greatest responsibilities is to ensure the security of our citizens. It is the state’s role, first and foremost, to prevent and combat terrorism”.
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“We issue this statement to raise the bar of expectation for online platforms to do their part.”
The leaders of the G20 reaffirmed their “strongest condemnation” of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
The statement urged online platforms to step up the ambition and pace of their efforts to prevent terrorist content from being streamed, uploaded, or re-uploaded.
“We strongly encourage a concerted effort to set out, implement and enforce terms of service to detect and prevent terrorist content from appearing on their platforms.”
The leaders said where terrorist content was uploaded or lifestreamed, it was critical online platforms addressed it, “in a timely manner,” while ensuring that documentary evidence is preserved.
“We welcome online platforms’ commitment to provide regular and transparent public reporting, as set out in their policies and procedures.”.
Mr Morrison, who paid tribute to world leaders, in particular summit host, Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe, for their support said his priority was to keep Australians safe.
He said global leaders had raised the bar for social media companies in the fight to crackdown on sharing terrorist content.
“Today’s joint statement from the G20 Leaders’ Summit is an unprecedented co-ordinated effort and show of unity in the fight against terrorist and violent extremist content shared online,” he said.
Mr Morrison said it was “a clear warning” from global leaders to internet companies that they must step up.
‘It builds on the Christchurch Call to Action and affirms our commitments as governments to follow through with practical efforts to prevent something like that ever happening again,” he said.
“The world’s citizens rightly have high expectations of internet companies that they must not let their platforms be exploited.
“It is time for them to act.”
He singled out praise for New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron who chaired a summit in Paris in May with heads of state from Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Jordan, Senegal, Indonesia and the European Union.
While nations were initially hesitant that any agreement would send an anti-free speech message, but the PM convinced wavering leaders by saying it was not about limiting free speech, but zeroing in on terror propaganda and protecting the internet.
The Federal Government’s world leading crackdown on violent extremism content in December — leaving social media executives criminally liable if they fail to remove content — had been used by a handful of nations as a trigger for new laws overseas.
“Together, we are committed to tackling terrorist and violent extremist content in all its forms, on every platform, to keep our citizens safe.”
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