Australia: Closed consultation on draft Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023 including content moderation authority governance

On 6 August 2023, the Australian Government closed its consultation concerning new powers of the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to combat misinformation and disinformation under the draft Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023. In particular, the draft bill provides the ACMA with powers to gather information from digital platform providers, or require them to keep certain records about matters regarding misinformation and disinformation. The bill also enables the ACMA to request industries to develop a code of practice covering measures to combat misinformation and disinformation on digital platforms. Further, the ACMA would be enabled to create and enforce an industry standard should a code of practice be deemed ineffective in combatting misinformation and disinformation on digital platforms. Notably, the ACMA will not have powers to request digital platform services to remove specific content or posts.