Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week, I had the great displeasure of having my Instagram page impersonated on three occasions. Someone had set up a fake Instagram account under my name, and I was, naturally, very concerned about why someone would do that. I was concerned that they would post things as though they were me, so I ended up contacting the eSafety Commissioner. To my surprise, she told me that this is something that happens to thousands of ordinary Australians every year.

As a federal member, I was able to get onto the eSafety Commissioner very easily and tell her about my woes, but it got me thinking: what sort of damage is being done out there in the community to everyday citizens who can't just pick up the phone and ring Julie Inman-Grant, the eSafety Commissioner? Julie was telling me the various reasons why people are setting up these impersonation accounts. One reason is to create maximum harm through cyberabuse by pretending that, for instance, you're Andrew Wallace. You could say horrible things, and I would get the blowback for it.

We've all heard stories of Chris Hemsworth promoting a particular stock or product and, of course, it had nothing to do with Chris Hemsworth but it's relying on his good name. Whether it be Chris or Kochie or any other celebrity, people believe in those people and think: 'If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me.'

Others are selling fraudulent financial packages. Some are sending messages to friends of the account holder, saying: 'I'm overseas'—although that wouldn't work these days—'I've broken my leg and I need $1,000 for medical treatment.' We've all heard those stories.

We've also heard stories of people impersonating social media accounts to peddle a false political narrative. We've all heard about the fake news and the attempts to alter political and election campaigns in the US, Europe and the UK.

The eSafety Commissioner told me that it's actually very easy to create these false social media accounts, and that the dark web is full of them. These false accounts are being created by criminal gangs in Australia and overseas or by kids, adolescents. One of the things that really struck me—and I have known about this—is that the level of vitriol that is being peddled on social media is an absolute disgrace. About 12 months ago, in my own social media, I put everybody on notice: if you denigrate someone or use offensive language, I'm just going to wipe you. And things have been pretty good since I did that.

The thing that surprises me most is the level of vitriol from parents directed towards children, and it comes down to this concept of anonymity on social media. People think they can do and say what they like on social media, because they've got a degree of anonymity—'I can say what I like. I'm not going to be found out.' That's something we need to look at. But it's not just a matter of addressing these problems through—and we often pick on social media companies. I believe we need stronger deterrents for people who commit these acts against other people. We need to step up our offences and make it more of a punishment, in my view, and I'm working with the Attorney-General to do just that.

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