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Australia's Attorney-General Christian Porter, left, and Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield hold a press conference in Canberra. Australia's parliament has passed legislation punishing Internet platforms for failing to remove violent audio and video. Mick Tsikas/AP hide caption
Australia's parliament has passed new laws to criminalize Internet platforms for failing to remove violent videos and audio, after an Australian gunman livestreamed himself shooting worshipers in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Under the new legislation, social media executives — among other online content or hosting providers — could be imprisoned for up to three years and companies could face penalties of up to 10% of their annual revenue if they do not remove violent content in an "expeditious" manner.
The bill passed on Thursday local time with cross party support but faced criticism, including that it could cause increased censorship and that the process was rushed.
Christian Porter, Australia's attorney general with the Liberal party, said of the bill, which he called likely a "world first," was a direct response to footage of the terror attacks in New Zealand that spread across social media. The original video was available on Facebook for about an hour from the beginning of the live broadcast – and viewed by thousands of people – before Facebook removed it. Facebook said it blocked or removed 1.5 million copies over the next 24 hours.
"The horror of that act was brought to the world in real time and the platforms that were used to connect with the world were turned against us to amplify the shooter's message of hate and intolerance," Porter told the parliament on Thursday, according to transcripts.
Porter said the legislation is intended to make companies take responsibility for the spread of video or audio of "abhorrent violent conduct" – defined as terrorism, murder, attempted murder, torture, rape and kidnapping.
"There are platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook who do not seem to take their responsibility to not show the most abhorrently violent material seriously," Porter told reporters in Canberra on Thursday, The Guardian reports.
Critics said the bill, which passed in the legislature's last days before upcoming elections set for May, was rushed through the process. The Labor opposition party first saw the legislation late on Monday local time, The Associated Press reports.
Labor supported the bill but promised to revisit the legislation if elected.
"Labor believes that the social media companies must do more in preventing the dissemination of material produced by terrorists showing off their crimes," said Mark Dreyfus, a Labor Party member, according to transcripts. "But I must be clear: this bill is clumsy and flawed in many respects."
Dreyfus argued the bill could encourage "proactive surveillance" by social media companies, undermine Australia's security cooperation with the United States and penalize small companies that do not have the resources to comply with new regulations.
The bill does allow exemptions for violent material to be broadcast or hosted if it is used for certain purposes, including law enforcement, court proceedings, research, artistic work or journalism.
But Dreyfus said the legislation draws an arbitrary distinction between news media and other hosting platforms, such as Twitter.
Arthur Moses, president of the Law Council of Australia, told the AP that the laws could have an impact on online business investment and lead to media censorship.
"Media freedom and whistleblowing of atrocities here and overseas have been put at risk by the ill-informed livestream laws passed by the Federal Parliament," Moses said.
Scott Farquhar, CEO of Sydney-based software company Atlassian, said that the law made any person working at a company that allows uploads of videos or images "guilty until proven innocent."
"They need to violate users privacy to police this," he wrote on Twitter.
The laws apply to material from content or hosting services provided outside of Australia if that material is reasonably accessible within Australia.
The bill also requires companies to notify Australian Federal Police "within a reasonable time after becoming aware of the existence" of video or audio of violent conduct occurring within Australia.
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Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex greets his fan and friend Daphne Dunne in Sydney in 2018. Paul Edwards/Pool/Getty Images hide caption
Prince Harry's number one fan in Australia has died at the age of 99.
From the moment they met in 2015, Daphne Dunne and Harry were fast friends – and media darlings.
Harry, who served 10 years in the British army, first saw Dunne in line outside the Sydney Opera House. He was drawn to the medals pinned to her coat and stopped to chat, The Daily Telegraph reports. The medals came from her late first husband, Albert Chowne, who died in World War II – and she told Harry about working as a corporal in the Australian Women's Army Service during the war.
Dunne and the royal met twice more after that, both times she waited for him in a crowded line.
He would stop and crouch beside her, and she would put her hand on his face or kiss his cheek. Their encounters made their way onto news websites across the Commonwealth, Good Morning America in the U.S. and even the front page of the Daily Mirror (after which Dunne wrote on Instagram, "Too much excitement for me. I need a nap.")
But for Harry and Dunne, it was about the little things.
Prince Harry meets Daphne Dunne outside the Sydney Opera House in 2015. Chris Jackson/Getty Images hide caption
In 2017, she waited in the rain to offer him an ice-cold beer. (He declined, and she later joked that he still owed her a beer). The next year, he complimented her shoes ("very cool") and her dyed-pink hair.
He also introduced her to his wife, Meghan Markle, in that encounter in 2018.
"It's so nice to meet you," Markle told Dunne, taking her hands. As Markle said goodbye, she added, "Hopefully the next time we see you we'll have our little one with us!"
Dunne told Nine New Sydney before that encounter that she didn't think Harry had changed much since their earlier meetings. "He's a natural," she said. "He just loves what he's doing, seems to fit in with everything he's doing, I'm very happy for him. I'm glad he's got a wife now."
Dunne died on Monday, her family wrote on Instagram.
Britain's Prince Harry meets with Daphne Dunne in Sydney in 2017. Dean Lewins/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
"We, her family, would like to thank everyone for the love and support they showed Daphne," they wrote. "She spent a large part of her life representing the women of the Australian Army and her two husbands Lt. Albert Crowne VC MM and John Patrick Dunne, ensuring that their service to Australia was never forgotten."
She celebrated her 99th birthday just days before she died and wrote that she received one particularly special birthday card: "A lovely message," she said, from her friends Harry and Meghan.
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Plan to Mine the Moon Gives Australia Opening in New Space Era BloombergAustralia is joining the growing number of nations looking to compete in space, from launching micro satellites that track sheep to mining water on the moon.
An American tourist in Australia required emergency surgery last week after being beaten unconscious in a random attack, Australian media reported.
Efforts were underway to find the suspect, the reports said.
The unidentified 32-year-old victim is a traveling musician visiting Melbourne, authorities said. He was walking away from a tram just before 11:30 p.m. Wednesday when the assault occurred.
AMERICAN KILLED BY BOW AND ARROW-WIELDING TRIBE WHILE TRYING TO VISIT REMOTE INDIAN ISLAND
"It appears to be unmotivated at this point. The victim is seen quite clearly stepping off a tram walking on his own. This unknown male runs up to him and we don't know why at this point," Victoria Police Det. Senior Constable Matthew Coleiro told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "He strikes him to the point he's unconscious, hovers over him and appears to taunt him. Once he regains consciousness he again continues the assault until he's unconscious again, hovers over him again, then leaves him in the middle of the road unconscious."
A screen capture from surveillance video shows a suspect standing over an unidentified American tourist who was badly beaten in Australia, according to police. (Victoria Police )
The man regained consciousness and found help from a passer-by 30 minutes later. He underwent two surgeries to stop bleeding in his brain and repair a broken jaw. Coleiro said the man also suffered some memory loss.
He was expected to fly home Saturday after spending six weeks in Australia.
"His family have been notified overseas. He's got no other real support network here in this country," Coleiro told the network.
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Investigators are reviewing surveillance footage that caught the attack.
"Hopefully we can find out who this person is and he'll get some reassurance and some comfort in that," Coleiro said.
CANBERRA, Australia – Australia's prime minister says he won't put officials in danger by retrieving three orphaned Australian children of a convicted terrorist who have reportedly been found in a Syrian refugee camp.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison's response on Monday to the plight of former Islamic State group fighter Khaled Sharrouf's children is the same as his government's reaction to other Australians who have joined the fight with extremist groups in Syria and want to come home.
But security experts say that Australians can and should be safely brought home from Syrian refugee camps since the defeat of Islamic State forces.
Australian Broadcasting Corp. reports only three of Sharrouf's five children survived the conflict. They are pregnant 17-year-old Zaynab, 16-year-old Hoda and 8-year-old Humzeh.
