This is the Business Council’s submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee on the Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill 2021 (“the Bill”). The Bill is focused on changes to defamation law, and follows the High Court decision in Fairfax Media Publications v Voller.

We support the government’s commitment to keeping Australians safe from online harm. This includes defamatory or harmful comments made anonymously. Like many laws and regulations, defamation law has not kept pace with changing social interactions and expectations prompted by an increasingly digital Australia.

However, while we support the government’s intention with this Bill (to provide recourse for Australians where defamatory material has been posted online) we do not consider the model as currently presented by government will have the impact that government intends for individual Australians.

You can read the full submission here.