Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Social media is playing an increasingly significant role in our lives. It's where we make friends, do business, stay connected with loved ones and, for many, find out the news of the day. It has never been more entrenched in our lives than right now. Many of us, and, importantly, our children and grandchildren, have been glued to screens throughout the pandemic. Right now, we can only guess what impact this will have on their minds and mental health into the future. This is why we need to do everything possible to ensure social media is safe for all users. While our government is working hard to prevent the spread of dangerous material through the Online Safety Act, we need to go further and hold social media services to account—as publishers—for the content posted on their websites.

Content posted on social media sites is pushed around the world, far and wide, and the platforms are intelligent, using AI to show individual preferences. So, when content that seriously defames another person is promoted to a wider audience, the social media service, along with the end user, should be responsible for damages. For too long social media platforms have hidden behind the shield of protecting free speech, while at the same time moderating their platforms—often with arbitrary rules. Freedom of speech is an inherent right that we must protect at all costs, but it is not a right to lie or incite violence. Free speech is vital to our democracy, but there must be limitations to prevent harm. We need consistency from social media platforms to ensure we strike the right balance, and this won't be achieved if we leave these platforms to be a law unto themselves with no penalties.

Big tech platforms write their own rules and this is causing serious issues for end users. The rules are inadequate and are sporadically enforced, with no external accountability. I have personal experience of how these issues can affect people's lives. For several months in 2020, my husband and I, as well as the charity we founded to help single mothers access education, were the target of baseless and defamatory accusations made by a conspiracy theorist on Facebook. It was unrelenting for months. Claims were widely distributed and reached local networks in my electorate of Mallee. To this day I still see echoes of the insane conspiracies this person continues to espouse. It was an incredibly trying time, including for the young mothers that rely on this essential charity in our community. I was concerned that these mothers would be driven away from the service by lies and left even more vulnerable. I pursued a legal course of action against her in a civil case but it cost my husband and I, personally, upwards of $200,000.

Through this horrible experience I have been inspired to take action and to use my position to seek to prevent others going through this. What concerns me is that many thousands of people who endure bullying and defamation online will lack the means to clear their name or protect their family; we need measures in place to stop these cases rising. At the moment, there's very little impetus on social media services to ensure safety and protect users from harm and defamation. This bill aims to change that by making these services jointly liable for the perpetration of defamatory material hosted online. It also allow the minister to outline basic expectations for the distribution of defamatory material and gives the eSafety Commissioner the power to issue fines for breaches of these expectations. These are important changes and build on our government's progress of making social media safe for Australians by addressing the distribution of defamatory material. This bill fills an important gap left by the Online Safety Act. It also builds on the collaborative work of the Parliamentary Friends of Making Social Media Safe, co-chaired by myself and the member for Newcastle.

I'm focused on fighting for change to ensure that our kids and grandkids are safe online, and that our society has a healthy relationship with social media going forward. I defer the rest of my time to the member for Berowra.

See this speech in context