Australia Makes Law That Forces Social Media To Unmask Online Trolls

JAKARTA - The Australian Government will soon introduce some of the toughest "anti-troll" laws in the world. Where they will force social media platforms to unmask who is the culprit behind the troll.

However, experts argue that if the focus is solely on defamation, the law will not help to curb levels of online bullying or hate online.

It was announced by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison that his government would introduce legislation to parliament this week that would see social media companies reveal the identities of anonymous trolling accounts and offer a path to prosecuting people for defamation.

Compiled from The Guardian, Monday, November 29, under the new rules, the law will require social media companies to collect personal details of current and new users, and allow courts to access the identities of users to launch defamation cases.

Unfortunately, Morrison didn't specify what personal data would be collected but there were indications that it would include a user's phone number, email address, and contact name.

In addition, the law will also change who is responsible for defamatory posts, from the organization that runs the account, such as a news organization. Morrison said he wanted consistency between the rules in the real world and the virtual world.

“The rules that exist in the real world must exist in the digital and online world. The online world shouldn't be a wild west, where bots and bigots and trolls and others can anonymously go around and hurt people and hurt people", Morrison said.

Citing ZDNet, Digital Rights Watch executive director Lucie Krahulcova criticized the development of the law, saying it was not focused on pursuing people who slander, harass, or commit similar crimes online.

"They're actually not very passionate about enforcing (existing laws) on behalf of women, people of color, and historically I think there's a lot of evidence of that in Australia", Krahullcova said.

"When we talk now about attacks on anonymity, it's because white men aren't comfortable with the criticism they get online. And it's not just politicians, it's also certain reporters and types of sports stars and such. Precisely because this society the privileged group is frustrated with criticism", he added.