Australia to crack down on live-streaming of violent crimes

Sydney

AUSTRALIA will legislate "tough" new laws to prevent social media platforms from being "weaponised" by terrorists and extremists who may use them to live-stream violent crimes, such as the Christchurch terror attack.

The new legislation would be introduced into parliament this week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a joint statement. Attorney-General Christian Porter said in the statement new offences will incur penalties of up to 10 per cent of a company's annual turnover and potential prison sentences for executives of social-media companies who fail to act to remove abhorrent violent material from their platforms,

"Social media companies, like Facebook, which met with the Prime Minister, the Attorney-General, myself" and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton " did not present any immediate solutions to the issues arising out of the horror that occurred in Christchurch," Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield said in the statement on Saturday.

Facebook Inc came under sharp criticism for not taking down the video, in which the alleged gunman killed 50 people in two mosques in Christchurch, fast enough and for allowing it be circulated across the Internet and uploaded to platforms like YouTube. The social media company was considering placing restrictions on who can post live videos in the wake of the New Zealand shooting two weeks ago that was filmed and disseminated in real time.

The amendments to the Australian legislation would be modelled on existing offences in the Criminal Code, which requires platforms to notify police if their service is being used to access child pornography, the attorney general said.

"Mainstream media that broadcast such material would be putting their licence at risk and there is no reason why social media platforms should be treated any differently," Mr Porter said. BLOOMBERG

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