Australia: tech giants launch code to fight disinformation
The giant Facebook and GAFA must fight against infox in Australia.
Josh Edelson AFP / Archivos
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Australia goes to war against fake news.
To reduce the spread against the infox that multiplied during the pandemic, the country is adopting a code of good practice.
At the request of the government, the Internet giants, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft and the TikTok network will take a series of measures.
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The first measure is that the Internet giants will have to mention false content on their platforms.
The goal is to ban infox distributors.
They commit to prioritize credible sources of information.
Finally, they undertake to deactivate fake accounts, which publish spam in particular.
Infox will also be prohibited in advertisements.
The Australian government has stressed the need to fight against online disinformation after the forest fires that ravaged the country in 2019 and 2020. These fires have sparked many false viral publications, which have denied the role of the climate change.
Same phenomenon, during the pandemic, with the proliferation of false information on masks, or on vaccines against the coronavirus.
►
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“
Proportionate and flexible
” approach
"
False information can cause serious damage to individuals and to society,
" said the Government Communication and Media Authority (ACMA), responsible for overseeing the implementation of this code.
ACMA said on Monday that in 2020 more than two-thirds of Australians expressed concern about the extent of disinformation online.
Its president, Nerida O'Loughlin, praised the
code's
“
proportionate and flexible
” approach.
The Australian government will closely monitor the application of this code on the Internet and social networks.
The digital giants will have to publish an annual report on their activities every year.
The Australian Conservative government's anti-disinformation action comes as it intends to pass a law to force tech giants to
pay the media
for their news content on their platforms.
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