Former prime minister Tony Abbott has joined a chorus of criticism against the Albanese government’s misinformation bill as the Coalition has formally committed to opposing the new measures. It comes amid fears the bill would be a danger to free speech and would provide a financial incentive to online platforms to censor content. The revised bill, which is based on an earlier draft proposal that was scrapped last November, would allow for the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to slap social media platforms with massive fines if they fail to crack down on misinformation and disinformation.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott shared the Coalition's concerns and argued the government could become a victim of its own bid to tackle misinformation as he cited Labor’s promise to decrease power prices ahead of the 2022 election. “This whole question of what is misinformation, what is disinformation, is just so difficult to pin down,” Mr Abbott told Radio 2GB. “For instance, was the Prime Minister’s claim during the election that he would reduce power bills by $275 per households per year – was that misinformation, an honest mistake, if you like, or was it disinformation – a deliberate untruth?" Mr Abbott argued the same point could be applied to advice given during the COVID pandemic as the science seemed to change “from week to week and from place to place.
” “The claims during the pandemic that masks were essentially useless – was that misinf.