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Australia: Govt wants social media laws this week

By  |  April 4, 2019
Attorney-General Christian Porter has urged parliament to this week pass laws targeting social media companies for not removing violent material immediately.

Christian Porter says the Christchurch terror attack, in which a lone gunman live-streamed himself killing 50 people at two mosques, shows social media needs to be scrutinised.

“The utterly tragic events in Christchurch demonstrate that the tools that can now be used by terrorists to spread fear, violence and messages of fanatical hate are not limited sadly to guns,” he told parliament on Tuesday.

“Content providers and hosts can no longer be reckless as to the presence of that type of abhorrently violent material and the time to pass on law to make that so is this week.”

Time is ticking for Mr Porter, with this sitting week the last before Prime Minister Scott Morrison calls an election and the government enters caretaker mode.

Under the proposed legislation, companies would be breaking Australian law if they did not take down footage of terrorist acts immediately.

Full Content: Australia News

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