Big Tech defamation law push

Defamation laws applied to Google, Facebook and Twitter should be as similar as possible to those that apply to traditional news outlets, Attorney-General Christian Porter says.

Mr Porter said the business models of the social media giants were very similar to that of the traditional news media, in that they sold advertising to customers attracted to content.

“Yet the rules that apply to traditional news media, print and television are very different, more prescriptive — and safer, I would argue — than those that apply to digital platforms,” he said.

Mr Porter said the laws that applied to digital platforms and traditional news publishers “should be as similar as reasonably possible”.

“Otherwise one business type is held to a higher standard and to a commercial disadvantage, and it’s just not fair,” he said.

The nation’s attorney-generals agreed in July to defamation reforms aimed at reducing huge payouts, weeding out trivial claims and better protecting public interest journalism.

NSW was the first to pass the reforms, followed by South Australia and Victoria, while other states have been dragging the chain. The next stage of defamation law reform will include examining how the law should be applied to digital platforms.

Mr Porter said the commonwealth would play a significant role in resolving the issue and there was “growing support” for extending the laws to social media companies.

“It’s not uncomplicated and it’s a very important decision because it will represent potentially a fundamental restructure of the law in that area if it were the case that you would consider in some circumstances digital platforms to be publishers,” the Attorney-General said.

Mr Porter’s comments come as the Morrison government is already engaged in a fight with the technology giants over laws that would force them to enter into negotiations with traditional news publishers to pay them for their content.

Google has threatened to shut down its search engine in Australia, while Facebook has threatened to pull news content from its feeds for users based in Australia.