Canberra, November 14 (IANS). The Australian government has announced a new plan to force social media companies to take proactive steps to ensure the well-being of their users.
Communications Minister Michel Rolland on Wednesday night committed to legislating a digital duty of care regulation for technology companies, Xinhua news agency reported.
Under the proposed scheme, social media companies will have to continuously monitor their platforms and will be forced to take preventive action to prevent potential harm.
“There is a need to move away from reacting to harms by relying solely on content regulation and toward systems-based prevention,” Rolland said in a speech.
“This, as part of a growing global effort, will provide a more systematic and preventive approach to making online services safe and healthy.”
He said regulators would be able to impose tougher penalties in cases where platforms seriously and systematically breach their duty of care towards Australian users.
The duty of care legislation was recommended by an independent review of the existing Online Security Act. The review’s findings were submitted to the government in October, but have not yet been made public.
Digital Duty of Care will be introduced by the government on top of laws banning children under 16 from using social media.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged to introduce legislation into parliament in November to ban children under 16.
–IANS
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