A Senate committee investigating how foreign powers use social media to interfere in Australia has recommended a series of rules and restrictions on social media platforms, including a possible ban on the use of Chinese messaging service WeChat on government devices.
Tuesday’s report contains 17 recommendations, including new transparency rules enforced through fines, extending the existing TikTok government device ban to contractors, and investigating the WeChat ban on government devices.
Committee Chairman Senator Patterson said in a statement that companies such as TikTok and WeChat pose “unique national security risks” because their parent companies ByteDance and Tencent are based in China and are subject to China’s national security laws. constraint.
“Platforms controlled by authoritarian regimes, such as TikTok and WeChat, illustrate the broader cybersecurity risks to which sensitive government information is exposed,” he said in a statement.
The committee also recommended that Australia help developing countries in the Indo-Pacific region defend against “malicious information operations” by authoritarian countries.
The five-member committee on foreign interference through social media, led by Liberal Senator James Patterson, includes two members from the ruling Labor Party, although the report’s recommendations are not binding.
The offices of the prime minister and interior minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While many of the recommendations target Chinese social media platforms, a set of 11 transparency rules would require all large social media platforms to label state-affiliated media accounts and disclose when the government conducts content reviews and takes action against the accounts of elected officials.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
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