Algorithm off-switch to face delay as Coalition, Greens prepare inquiry

The ability for Australian social media users to shut off their algorithms and sue big tech platforms for harm they experience online could be delayed as both the Coalition and the Greens prepare to send Labor’s latest suite of online protections to a Senate inquiry.

As Communications Minister Anika Wells says current laws could not block the controversial livestreaming of an execution in the United States, Greens communication spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young is set to meet with Meta to petition the social media giant not to broadcast the stream.

Both Hanson-Young and her Coalition counterpart Sarah Henderson on Tuesday confirmed that their parties would seek to send Labor’s digital duty of care laws to a Senate inquiry. While both said the inquiry would report by the end of the year, a final date has yet to be confirmed.

Henderson on Tuesday attacked the “deeply flawed” bill and Wells. She said she would seek a Senate inquiry report to be handed down by November 24, during the final sitting week of the year.

“I trust this will be supported by the Senate when voted on [on Wednesday]. The inquiry will be a crucial opportunity to examine Labor’s insidious agenda to control what you say and see online,” Henderson said in a statement.

Greens communications spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said she would support an inquiry into the bill, but did not confirm the minor party’s preferred reporting date. Sources within the Greens have said they are open to a reporting date that could see altered legislation passed by the end of the year.

“I am keen to make sure the Senate can kick the tyres on the government’s proposed laws to make sure it actually works. We want digital duty of care that has teeth and will actually keep people safe from big tech’s toxic algorithms,” Hanson-Young said.

“There must be proper penalties and consequences for social media companies that profit off harm online. We are open to an inquiry that reports to the Senate before the end of the year.”

The Coalition has all but ruled itself out of negotiations on the bill, arguing it amounts to political censorship and should be abandoned. Of particular concern to the opposition was a broad ministerial discretion to delineate what was online harm, which has since been walked back by Wells.

In an exposure draft of the legislation released on September 8, the government proposed penalties of $109.2 million for corporations that violate the new online safety rules. Greens are seeking to massively increase penalties of 10 per cent of platforms’ global revenue.

The minor party will now push to allow individual Australians to sue big tech corporations for the harm they foster online.

Meta’s head of global safety, Antigone Davis, is set to travel to Australia this week, where she will meet with Hanson-Young to discuss the matter. Meta owns major social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.

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