Australia passed legislation Thursday that puts the onus on social media companies to remove violent posts from their platforms ― or they could face massive fines and even prison for executives. The law, which forces companies like Facebook and Twitter to quickly remove “abhorrent violent material,” follows the mosque shootings in New Zealand last month that were livestreamed on Facebook and quickly disseminated before they were deleted. It criminalizes videos that show terrorist attacks, murders, rape or kidnapping, and social media companies that don’t remove the material “expeditiously” face massive fines of up to 10 percent of their annual profit. Mark Dreyfus, a Labor Party member, worried that the new measure would push social media companies to further surveil users, to the point of breaching security. NPR reports:Dreyfus argued the bill could encourage “proactive surveillance” by social media companies, undermine Australia’s security cooperation with the United States and penalize small companies that do not have the resources to comply with new regulations.

Source: Huffington Post April 04, 2019 15:22 UTC