Passport please?
The Australian government continues to misunderstand the internet. The latest own goal is draft legislation compelling social media companies to hand over the identities of people accused of trolling.
There are so many problems with this. But I couldn't possibly have put it better than Chris Cooper, director of internet advocacy group Reset Australia. So here he is:
“The most pressing problem here is not trolls, it is the disproportionate reach of their content enabled by the algorithms of social media companies that prioritise sensational, outrageous and conspiratorial content – the form which defamatory content usually takes.
Forcing social media companies responsible for coughing up the identity of individuals does not hold the platforms accountable for their profit-making amplification that enables that content to go viral.
Well said Chris! 👏🏻
As with previous government own goals (including encryption backdoors, the news media bargaining code, publisher accountability for Facebook comments, and the GDPR-ish changes to the online privacy bill) it's the right idea executed in completely the wrong way. The consistent theme in all of the above is a complete lack of understanding of how the internet actually works.
One outcome of this war against reality is that Australia will become a digital backwater. Rather than dealing with any legislation, companies will just leave. And when they leave, Australia will not just lose talent, but also the opportunity for new and innovative companies to be built. That's definitely not great.
For publishers, this will be doubly bad. Platforms (all of them, not just Facebook) are essential to the future success of publishing. We are still in the early days of discovering workable revenue models that enable the media to operate sustainably and effectively within the social platforms that thrive on their content. To have all the major platforms disengage from Australia would hurt all media companies. Also not great.
To give some credit to Canberra, the planned inquiry into social media and mental health is a good thing. So they're not complete muppets.
This inquiry is where brands should be paying attention. An increase in public awareness of the damage social platforms are doing could see a big shift in public perception. When Facebook is already the most distrusted brand in the country, brands simply being present on some platforms will create negative connotations for customers.
