QAnon and targeted abuse require online reform: commissioner

“They initially pushed back pretty hard five years ago when this started, and I think they were worried about the domino effect. I was at Twitter at the time, and I remember [Communications Minister] Paul Fletcher, who was then parliamentary secretary, drafted the legislation, and called us all in to see and comment on the draft, and I was the only person that showed up,” Ms Inman Grant said.

“Google and Facebook in particular, weren’t willing to voluntarily sign up to our tiered cyber-bullying scheme either, which suggested to me that they just didn’t want the precedent of an online safety regulator.”

Australia’s appointment of an eSafety Commissioner was a world first. Ms Inman Grant said a Canadian minister had told her that country would be copying the Australian model, while new US President Joe Biden has pledged to convene a taskforce looking at issues including cyber exploitation and online harassment.

The proposed changes to Australia’s Online Safety Act include potential new powers for the eSafety Commissioner to seek identification or contact information behind anonymous accounts on social media platforms.

Individuals could be fined up to $111,000 for anonymousabusive behaviour, such as posting revenge porn, and content hosts such as social media, dating or games platforms could be slugged with fines up to $550,000.

Concepts such as “digital licence plates”, blockchain-based identity management systems and digital signatures are being explored as potential solutions to authenticate people online, without them being publicly identified or even known to the tech companies.

The commissioner’s paper calls on tech companies to take greater steps to suspend or remove anonymous accounts that are created to harass users or that violate a platform’s terms of service, and to work together to stop coordinated harassment and intimidation campaigns across platforms.

“I think untrammelled free speech has its limitations when it can be used to incite violence, and to organise like when Magda Szubanski was targeted by the anti-vaxxers and QAnon folks on Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, after she helped promote the wearing of masks to stop COVID-19,” she said.

“Some responsibility does fall back on the platform to be more actively tackling accounts that they know are being abusive, or, for that matter, spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories, with QAnon being a good example in the role in played in the events at the US Capitol.”

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