Social media giants must do more to eliminate fake accounts and political parties must establish an online code of conduct, a multi-party Victorian parliamentary inquiry has recommended.
It also suggested the Victorian government change the electoral act to make it illegal for misleading information to be published online.
While social media has had some positive impacts on elections, there is concern about the proliferation of fake accounts, false information and abuse manipulating some voters.
To tackle this, the committee wants to increase the accountability of users and has backed a proposal from the federal Parliament that social media platforms be required to establish the identity of users.
Victoria's electoral laws also need to be reviewed, according to the committee, to ensure that current election rules about information adequately apply to social media.
"There are people who use social media to abuse, mislead and manipulate others," committee chair and Labor MP Lee Tarlamis said.
"Social media have been weaponised to cause disruption. The structure of social media facilitates the spread of inaccurate information and can provide a false impression to its users. Much of what happens on social media is not transparent."
More transparency needed for political posts, committee finds
The multi-party committee called on government to update the law to make it illegal to publish statements in electoral advertising that claimed to be fact, but which were inaccurate.
It...
Read Full Story: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-14/social-media-fake-accounts-political-regulation-victoria/100460000
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