An Australian senate committee, investigating foreign interference through social media, has put forth 17 recommendations aimed at regulating social media platforms. Among the proposed measures is the potential ban of the Chinese messaging service, WeChat, on government devices.
The report, released on Tuesday, advocates for new transparency rules with enforceable fines, an expansion of the existing TikTok ban on government devices to include contractors, and a thorough investigation into a potential ban on WeChat usage on government devices.
The committee highlighted the “unique national security risks” posed by companies like TikTok and WeChat, citing their parent companies, ByteDance and Tencent, being headquartered in China and subject to its national security laws. Senator Paterson, the committee chair, emphasized the broader cyber security threat to sensitive government information from platforms controlled by authoritarian regimes.
In addition to the measures concerning Chinese social media platforms, the committee also suggested that Australia should support developing countries in the Indo-Pacific region to counter “malicious information operations” by authoritarian states.
The committee, led by Liberal Party Senator James Paterson and including two members from the ruling Labor party, stressed that the report’s recommendations are not binding. The office of the Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs has not yet provided an official response.
Furthermore, the committee proposed 11 transparency rules that would apply to all large social media platforms. These rules would mandate the labeling of state-affiliated media accounts and the disclosure of instances where governments influence content moderation and actions taken against accounts of elected officials.
