Security chiefs to target technology giants

Australia’s top spy and police chief put tech companies on notice over terrorists, spies and criminals using end-to-end encryption and AI to stoke extremism, disinformation, attacks and foreign interference.

Anthony Albanese, left, AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw and ASIO director-general Mike Burgess. Picture: Martin Ollman/NCA NewsWire

Australia’s top spy and police chief will put tech companies on notice over terrorists, spies and criminals using end-to-end encryption and artificial intelligence to stoke ­extremism, disinformation and foreign interference, harm children, build weapons and plan attacks.

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director-general Mike Burgess and Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw will warn on Wednesday that technology is “not above the rule of law” and accuse social media giants of refusing to “snuff out” extremist poison.

In a rare joint address to the National Press Club following last week’s church terrorist attack and Bondi Junction murders in Sydney, Mr Burgess and Mr Kershaw will focus on criminals and extremists weaponising the expansion of end-to-end encryption by tech giants.

Urging resistant tech companies to work with security agencies and establish lawful access, Mr Burgess will declare “privacy is important but not absolute” and say ASIO investigations are being “seriously compromised” by ­nationalist extremists using encrypted chat platforms.

The ASIO chief, who reveals some racist extremists are using encrypted platforms to share vile propaganda and tips about homemade weapons, will not call for new laws, powers or resources but rather for tech companies to do more under existing regimes.

“If the threat, evidence, safeguards and oversight are strong enough for us to obtain a warrant, then they should be strong enough for the companies to help us give effect to that warrant. To make encryption accountable,” Mr Burgess says.

“Without their help in very limited and strictly controlled circumstances, encryption is unac­countable. In effect, unaccoun­table encryption is like building a safe room for terrorists and spies, a secure place where they can plot and plan.

“Imagine if there was a section of a city where violent extremists could gather with privacy and impunity. Imagine if they used this safe space to discuss terrorism and sabotage, and vilify Muslims, Jews, people of colour and the LGBTQIA+ community. And imagine if the security service and police were stopped from entering that part of town to investigate and respond.”

Mr Kershaw, who says young people have taken their lives after criminals used social media to trick them into sending intimate images before blackmailing them for money, will reveal law enforcement agencies have directly appealed to social media companies and electronic service providers to help keep children safe.

“That includes not transitioning to end-to-end encryption until they can ensure their technology protects against online crime rather than enabling it. We recognise the role that technologies like end-to-end encryption play in protecting personal data, privacy and cyber security, but there is no absolute right to privacy,” Mr Kershaw will say.

“People have the right to privacy just like they have the right not to be harmed. People expect to have their privacy protected just like they expect police to do their job once a crime has been committed against them, or a loved one. That expectation includes being able to respond and bring offenders before the justice system.”

The intervention by Australia’s senior security chiefs comes amid a political and legal fight ­between the Albanese government and billionaire Elon Musk, whose social media platform X ­refused to remove videos of the church terrorist attack and ­allowed disinformation to spread following the Bondi Junction stabbings. The government has also targeted social media companies, including Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, for failing to take action on terrorist, violent extremism and child abuse material.

Mr Kershaw will warn that Australians are being “bewitched online by a cauldron of extremist poison on the open and dark web”.

“Social media companies are refusing to snuff out the social combustion on their platforms. Instead of putting out the embers that start on their platforms, their indifference and defiance is pouring accelerant on the flames,” he says.

“If we consider the disinformation and misinformation from two shocking incidents in Sydney this month, and how that social combustion was propagated throughout the world, we see the consequences of that indifference and defiance.

“Our respected leaders of faith tell us how the interpretation of religion is being purposely distorted on social media. Because of this, their communities and religious beliefs are tarnished and blamed for violent acts carried out by those who have been radicalised.”

With the Albanese government yet to finalise AI regulations, Mr Burgess says ASIO expects rapid AI advancements to increase espionage, foreign interference and radicalisation.

“AI is HOT: equal parts Hype, Opportunity and Threat,” he says.

“ASIO assesses that artificial intelligence will allow a step change in adversary capability. We are aware of offshore extremists already asking a commercially available AI program for advice on building weapons and attack planning.

“The internet is [already] … the world’s most potent incubator of extremism. AI is likely to make radicalisation easier and faster.”

Anthony Albanese on Tuesday described Mr Musk as an ­“arrogant” billionaire, as politicians from across the divide joined calls to strengthen online safety laws.

“No one is above the law. Not Elon Musk, not any Australian citizen when it comes to operating here in Australia. He has a business that gives him a lot of profit. And I just find it extraordinary that this bloke thinks he’s above the law,” Mr Albanese said.

Mr Kershaw will say his door is open to “all relevant tech CEOs and chairmen, including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg … I know we can find common ground because, put simply, tech is supposed to make our lives easier and safer, and not the opposite”.

The eSafety Commission last month warned Meta, Google, X, Telegram, WhatsApp, Reddit, TikTok, Twitch and Discord that they faced tens of millions of dollars in penalties if they failed to act on terrorist, violent extremism and child abuse material.

Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said generative AI was ­already being weaponised to spread hate and disinformation.

Ms Inman Grant said “shock-value propaganda” deep fakes, ranging from bombings to beheadings, could be produced as “hyper-realistic” content.

“You can imagine a number of really concerning scenarios ­because we know also (with) algorithms and the way that they ­amplify and content goes viral … by the time some of that content could go viral it can be taken as truth,” she said.