Current laws and regulations relevant to social media
The Online Safety Act 2021 (the Online Safety Act)
The Online Safety Act, which includes a Social Media Services Code that will take effect in December 2023, is the primary legislation under which the eSafety Commissioner exercises its powers to protect consumers in Australia – both adults and children – across most online platforms and forums, where they are susceptible to abuse or exposure to harmful content. Amongst others, it provides for (i) a Cyberbullying Scheme, which is a complaints system for cyber-bullying material targeted at a child; (ii) an Adult Cyber Abuse Scheme, which is a complaints system for cyber-abuse material targeted at an adult; (iii) an Image-Based Abuse Scheme, which is a complaints and objections system for non-consensual sharing of intimate images; and (iv) an Online Content Scheme, which regulates illegal and restricted content wherever it is hosted. Further, it sets out the Basic Online Safety Expectations for online service providers that establish their accountability for the safety of their service users, and requires the tech industry to develop new codes to detect and remove illegal content, which would apply to social media platforms.
Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations) Determination 2022
This is a Ministerial Determination. The Determination contains a series of expectations that social media platform providers should take reasonable steps that ensure end-users are able to use the service in a safe manner and proactively taking steps to deter unlawful or harmful contents from the end-users. The Determination provides examples of reasonable steps for social media platform providers to follow that aims to increase their transparency and accountability.
Source: Online Safety Determination 2022
The Competition and Consumer Act 2010 and The Australia Competition and Consumer Commission (“ACCC”)
The ACCC is an independent statutory authority in Australia established under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 that promotes competition and fair trading in markets, regulates national infrastructure-related services, and enforce consumer protection laws. In the field of social media, the ACCC plays a crucial role in regulating and addressing the impact of social media platforms on competition, consumer rights and the media industry in Australia. The ACCC introduced the News Media and Bargaining Code in 2021. It requires Facebook and Google to negotiate and pay for news content from Australia publishers, providing a more equitable distribution of advertising revenue generated from news content. Furthermore, the ACCC has also taken legal action against social media platforms for alleged breaches of consumer law. Last year, the ACCC released the “Digital Platforms Services Inquiry – Interim Report 6: Report on Social Media Services”. The report considers competition and consumer issues in the provision of social media services to consumers and businesses in Australia by social media platforms, and highlights a range of competition and consumer harms occurring across social media services.
Source: Digital platform services inquiry - March 2023 interim report | ACCC
Contributors
Rhys McWhirter
Head of Technology (Asia), Hong Kong
E: rhysmcwhirter@eversheds-sutherland.com T: +852 2186 4969
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