Bills Digest No. 14, Bills Digests alphabetical index 2024-25

Preliminary Bills Digest - Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024

Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts

Author

Jaan Murphy and Nell Fraser

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Key points

Introductory InfoDate of introduction: 2024-09-12

House introduced in: House of Representatives

Portfolio: Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts

Commencement: Most provisions commence the day after the Bill receives Royal Assent, with the exception of consequential amendments, which will commence at that time or immediately after the commencement of the Administrative Review Tribunal Act 2024.

Purpose of the Bill

The purpose of the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 (the Bill) is to reduce the spread of seriously harmful misinformation and disinformation on digital communications platforms. For the purposes of the Bill, this is information that is false, misleading or deceptive and is reasonably likely to cause or contribute to certain types of serious harm.

It will do so by amending the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 (BSA) and related legislation to increase the transparency and accountability of digital communications platforms and their responses to seriously harmful misinformation and disinformation. For example, the Bill will impose core transparency obligations on digital platforms regarding the risks on their platforms posed by misinformation and disinformation. In addition, digital platforms will be required to publish:

  • a media literacy plan and
  • their policies in tackling misinformation and disinformation.

The Bill will also provide the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) with:

  • information gathering and record keeping powers to examine the efforts of digital platforms to address misinformation and disinformation on their services and
  • the power to approve binding codes and make binding standards to compel digital platforms to prevent and respond to seriously harmful misinformation and disinformation on their services by imposing obligations such as reporting tools, links to authoritative information, supporting fact checkers and demonetisation of disinformation.

The Bill will also provide parliamentary oversight of the proposed framework including triennial reviews, annual reporting, and subjecting codes approved by the ACMA to parliamentary scrutiny and disallowance.

Government publications and websites

Consultation materials

Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, ‘New ACMA powers to combat misinformation and disinformation’, consultation for the exposure draft Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023 (2023 Bill), August 2023, and the submissions, including from the Law Council of Australia and the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Parliamentary Library Publications

Parliamentary Committee materials

International human rights bodies

Other materials

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