Australia on Friday, urged governments around the world to agree on “rules of the road” to fight the spread of misinformation and state-backed disinformation online.
Foreign Minister, Marise Payne said blocs like the Quad group , the U.S., India, Japan , Australia and global bodies like the United Nations were already working to strike a balance between harmful content and free expression online.
Payne, however, added that time was running out to agree on rules of what was permissible.
“We should be starting yesterday,” Payne told a panel at the Sydney Dialogue virtual event alongside Facebook Inc’s (FB.O) global affairs boss.
“We do have to be very clear that the rule of law that applies offline has to apply online.
“Rules of the road are what enable road users to stay safe, same with users online.
“Being able to identify the difference between free speech and malicious disinformation is important,” she added.
Misinformation and government-sponsored attempts to stoke social disharmony online have become a hot political issue.
Critics are accusing platforms like Facebook of failing to stop democracy being skewed by the content they host.
A former Facebook employee went public in October as haven leaked documents which she said, showed the company put profit over public safety.
Facebook head of global affairs, Nick Clegg told the panel it was up to governments to set misinformation rules.
Clegg, a former British deputy prime minister noted that it was clearly not in his position to decide on what content to bring down on the face book site.
“it is clearly not right that people like me, or sometimes (Facebook founder) Mark Zuckerberg or others, are having to make decisions about what sort of content can stay up or be taken down.
“Not all regulation is good, but of course regulation needs to be introduced.”
– Reuters/NAN
