MPs to compare UK and Australia online safety legislation

This morning MPs will examine what the UK can learn from Australia’s Online Safety Act in the fourth session of the DCMS Sub-Committee’s inquiry into Online safety and online harms.

The Sub-Committee is likely to consider how aspects of the Australian legislation, such as the exemptions given to journalists, capacity to fine individual trolls, and prominence given to violence against women and girls, can inform the upcoming UK Online Safety Bill.

The Committee is also expected to explore the Australian parliament’s News Media Bargaining Code, which attempted to ensure large technology companies pay local news outlets to publish or link their content. MPs may consider what Meta’s (then Facebook’s) response says about the company’s attitude towards online safety and what that means for any similar legislation in the UK.

Commenting on the publication of the Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill report, Rt. Hon. Mel Stride MP, Chair of the Treasury Committee, said:

“The Treasury Committee has repeatedly called for the Government to include fraudulent advertisements within the scope of the Online Safety Bill. While it’s reassuring that some online platforms are taking action to remove scam adverts from their sites, it’s clear that not enough is currently being done to combat online fraud.

“We support the Joint Committee’s recommendations in this area and call on the Government to act and stop these criminals in their tracks. Without a decisive response from the Government and the tech giants, many more individuals will sadly fall victim to these scammers.”

The Committee has called for fraudulent advertisements to be included within the scope of the Online Safety Bill on numerous occasions, including in the report on the Financial Conduct Authority’s Regulation of London Capital & Finance and in correspondence to the Prime Minister.

In October, the Committee published letters from Google, Facebook, Amazon and eBay on their plans to tackle online fraud. The correspondence followed an evidence session with the four companies in September and forms part of the Committee’s inquiry on Economic Crime.

In November, the Committee wrote to Microsoft, Twitter, TikTok and Snapchat, requesting details on their plans to combat online scams.