Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Attorney-General Michaelia Cash announced proposed new legislation aimed at making online “trolls” accountable for their actions on Sunday. Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard Morrison decry trolls as “cowardly” and “un-Australian”, language that made it into the talking points at yesterday’s media conference. But is his new-found concern about… Read more »
Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites could be legally liable for defamatory posts made by users unless the tech companies out the person responsible under new laws proposed by the Australian government. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the proposed changes to defamation law for social media platforms on Sunday. The changes will redefine the… Read more »
Unchecked technological advancement is destroying our shared reality and sewing severe discord in social democracies, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa has warned. Speaking at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Sydney Dialogue event last week, Ressa – founder of Filipino news site Rappler and the country’s first Nobel Laureate – described what she called… Read more »
The government is getting ready to hand out $10 million fines for companies mismanaging user information with new legislation targeting social media companies. A draft of the Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enhancing Online Privacy and Other Measures) Bill 2021 – or the Online Privacy Bill for short – was circulated on Monday. The bill aims to… Read more »
A publisher can be held responsible for defamatory comments readers leave on its Facebook pages, the High Court has ruled, in a decision that could have far-reaching consequences for social media users throughout Australia. This decision may mean anyone who runs a social media page can theoretically be sued over disparaging comments posted by readers… Read more »
Instagram’s parent company, Facebook will default set Instagram accounts for users under 16 to private, and restrict targeted advertising to them following an Australian expose that revealed how it was for marketers to show smoking, gambling, extreme weight loss, and alcohol advertising to underage users. The social media giant announced the changes in a blog… Read more »
From condo salesman to reality TV host to leader of the free world, Donald Trump has occupied several lifetimes’ worth of identities over a remarkable career of reinventions. Even so, the billionaire mogul’s latest metamorphosis – into a consumer-rights plaintiff seeking to regulate big business – is a peculiar one. With a volley of lawsuits… Read more »
The world’s biggest celebrities and influencers in the world are paid more than US$1 million to post sponsored content on Instagram. UK-based social media engagement platform Hopper has released its annual Instagram Rich List for 2021, with footballer Cristiano Ronaldo the highest paid poster at an average cost of US$1.6 million (A$2.13m) for brands to… Read more »
A recent nationally representative survey has shown Australians are willing and able to pull the plug on social media. But it turns out the generation you were born in, as well as your level of education, will likely have a bearing on whether you do. This is important, as recent events have set the precedent… Read more »
Australian social media startup LITT, which touts itself as a ‘Facebook alternative’, broke Australian equity crowdfunding records when its campaign opened on Tuesday, raising $500,000 in just 40 minutes. The Western Australian venture then went on to have the second fastest to CSF raise to $1 million, taking 11 hours. That record was set just… Read more »
I want to thank Facebook and Zuckerberg sincerely. I truly do. The blindsided vengeance of this past week has proven beyond doubt how dangerous it is for small businesses to rely on any marketing channel they do not fully own and control. Many were Zuckerberg-ed into believing that Facebook loved them and would be a never-ending fountain… Read more »
In denying news content to its Australian users, Facebook is arguably overplaying its hand, behaving as a big company that thinks it can intimidate governments. If it keeps doing this, it will ultimately lose customers, and that’s the last thing Facebook wants. Perhaps you’re already considering breaking up with Facebook, whether in reaction to the… Read more »
The recent storming of the US Capitol has led a number of social media platforms to remove President Donald Trump’s accounts. In the case of Twitter, the ban is permanent. Others, like Facebook, have taken him offline until after President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next week. This has led to a flurry of commentary in the… Read more »
Amid the chaos in the US Capitol, stoked largely by rhetoric from President Donald Trump, Twitter has locked his account, with 88.7 million followers, for 12 hours. Facebook and Instagram quickly followed suit, locking Trump’s accounts — with 35.2 million followers and 24.5 million, respectively — for at least two weeks, the remainder of his… Read more »
A disturbing video purporting to show a suicide is reportedly doing the rounds on the popular short video app TikTok, reigniting debate about what social media platforms are doing to limit circulation of troubling material. According to media reports, the video first showed up on Facebook in late August but has been re-uploaded and shared… Read more »
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