Australia: Introduced Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 including content moderation regulation

On 12 September 2024, the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 was introduced into the Australian Parliament. The Bill amends the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and related legislation with the objective of increasing transparency and accountability of digital platforms in their efforts to combat misinformation and disinformation. The legislation requires digital platforms to publish information of their policies, media literacy plans, and assessments of misinformation risks. In particular, digital platforms must develop risk management plans to identify and address misinformation and disinformation risks. They are also required to establish compliant complaint-handling processes for misinformation, ensuring adherence to minimum standards and reporting to the ACMA. Additionally, platforms must retain records of their efforts to combat misinformation and periodically provide these reports to the ACMA upon request. The aforementioned entities are thus obliged to make this information publicly available and to submit it to the ACMA. It is possible that certain services, such as email or non-interactive media sharing platforms, may be exempt from the bill's requirements.