Misinformation is poisoning our democracy

Social media platforms should be a place where we can come together to connect. Instead,  they are a place where powerful interests spread misinformation to devastating effect. 

Recently, we have seen misinformation spread falsehoods and division in elections here and abroad. Misinformation is poisoning our democracy and causing real world harm to people and communities and weak laws and regulation are to blame.   

In November, Senior Lawyer David Mejia-Canales was in Canberra giving evidence to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee.  

We are calling for the Albanese Government to strengthen proposed laws to combat misinformation and disinformation. These laws should be grounded in human rights to balance our right to free speech with the rights of others, while holding big tech platforms accountable for the harms they profit from.     

At the moment, the platforms are allowed to regulate themselves. Platforms like Facebook and X won’t regulate misinformation and hate speech on their services because it is too lucrative for them. We need action that forces social media companies to mitigate the harms they are causing. 

Our human rights matter - online and offline. This is why the Human Rights Law Centre is working with partners to hold these corporations to account for spreading lies and hate speech in the name of profit.