On Sunday (28/11) Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his country will introduce a law that requires social media companies to disclose the identity of anonymous accounts that often upload racist posts or comments, slander, harassment and bullying.
"The online world should not be a wild western world where bots and fanaticism and trolls and others anonymously roam and can harm people," Morrison said during a televised news conference.
"That can't happen in the real world, and no case can happen in the digital world," he continued.
The new law seeks to define social media giants as publishers, holding them accountable for user-generated content on their platforms.
The new law will introduce a complaint mechanism. Where and anyone who experiences harassment, slander, intimidation to being attacked on social media they can ask the platform to remove it.
If content is not withdrawn, litigation may compel social media platforms to provide commentary details.
"Digital platforms, these online companies need to have the right processes in place to allow for the removal of this content," Morrison said.
"They have created space and they need to make it safe, and if not, we will make them (through) laws like this," he said.
According to Russia Today, if a platform refuses to remove offensive content, a court can order it to reveal the identity of the anonymous commenter.
If the company again refuses or is unable to identify the anonymous account then the company will eventually be responsible and will have to pay the resulting fine.
"Freedom of speech does not give permission to cowardly hide in your basement and scorn and harass people anonymously and seek to destroy their lives," Morrison said.
"In a free society like Australia where we value our free speech, free speech is free when it comes with responsibility for what you say."
Morrison offered little insight into the details of the proposed law, or whether it will become a public debate, but said he expected strong support from parliament.
