In an open letter to Communications Minister Anika Wells, the groups - from teachers to a wide range of multi-cultural organisations, artists to electricians – are calling for three key changes to the proposed laws:
- Protections against hate speech including racist and homophobic hate speech.
- A private right of action for those harmed by breaches of the duty of care to seek compensation and other remedies.
- The laws include substantial penalties for social media companies that break the law.
"A duty of care only ever works if those harmed when it is breached can seek compensation from the courts. The threat of being liable for substantial compensation is critical to ensuring corporations act responsibly and lawfully," said Josh Bornstein, Director, Corporate Regulation at The Australia Institute.
"When it comes to enforcing the Digital Duty of Care it can't all be left to eSafety which received more than 100,00 complaints in the last year but only takes action in 2% of cases. The eSafety Commissioner supports a private right of action. There is also an important role for our courts in the ongoing interpretation and application of the new digital duty of care.
"The Albanese Government should be commended for including gendered violence as a serious online harm in the bill. But it needs to address other forms of hate speech including racist and homophobic hate speech. As the Royal Commission into antisemitism made clear, the most extreme forms of hate speech are propagate by social media giants because they profit from doing so. That has got to stop.
"We have been overwhelmed by the support right across the community for ensuring that this important step regulation of Big Tech companies is effective."
