Oz government crackdown on Social Media
March 29, 2019 at 9:59 pm
(This post was last modified: March 29, 2019 at 10:03 pm by fredd bear.)
The Australian government has been highly critical of social media platforms (esp. Facebook and Twitter) in the wake of the New Zealand shootings.
The government had meetings last week with executives from Facebook and Twitter. The executives were told to immediately take meaningful action to ensure immediate removal of such content as it happens.. Executives were warned should they fail to do , the Australian government would pass legislation to force them to comply.
The government was not satisfied with responses. Therefore, it has been announced laws will be passed which will include up to 3 years in prison for executives, and fines for the companies of up to 10% of their annual global income.
Source: Australian Broadcasting Service (public broadcasting), Noon news. 30 March 2019
Comment; this looks like a classic case of a government wanting to be seen to be doing something. This is a cynical political exercise, to which the majority of voters are likely to agree. Result: Social platforms power decreases, government's power increases.
I don't use social media, because I don't trust it. I was on Facebook some years ago long enough to understand wha was going on. It was, and remains my belief that if you find a fantastic free app, asking for nothing obvious, then you are the product, not the customer. Overall, I have always seen these platforms as doing far more harm than good to the body civil. But what do I know, I'm just a cranky old fart.
I also see such platforms as they now as transition technology. Due to ongoing, rapid changes in IT, I believe such apps will become redundant within a 10-20 years. Of course I might be very wrong.
The government had meetings last week with executives from Facebook and Twitter. The executives were told to immediately take meaningful action to ensure immediate removal of such content as it happens.. Executives were warned should they fail to do , the Australian government would pass legislation to force them to comply.
The government was not satisfied with responses. Therefore, it has been announced laws will be passed which will include up to 3 years in prison for executives, and fines for the companies of up to 10% of their annual global income.
Source: Australian Broadcasting Service (public broadcasting), Noon news. 30 March 2019
Comment; this looks like a classic case of a government wanting to be seen to be doing something. This is a cynical political exercise, to which the majority of voters are likely to agree. Result: Social platforms power decreases, government's power increases.
I don't use social media, because I don't trust it. I was on Facebook some years ago long enough to understand wha was going on. It was, and remains my belief that if you find a fantastic free app, asking for nothing obvious, then you are the product, not the customer. Overall, I have always seen these platforms as doing far more harm than good to the body civil. But what do I know, I'm just a cranky old fart.
I also see such platforms as they now as transition technology. Due to ongoing, rapid changes in IT, I believe such apps will become redundant within a 10-20 years. Of course I might be very wrong.
