Australia’s Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has just released its second report to the country’s government, covering “efforts” of digital platforms to comply with the Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation.
Despite Australia’s draconian, fully on display for the rest of the world to see, measures and policies over the past few years on a number of hot-button issues, Covid and “misinformation” included, this code is designated as “voluntary.”
It came as a result of a “request” made by the Australian government back in 2019, and was delivered by the Digital Industry Group (DIGI).
The layers of corporate and government power involved here are fascinating for those wanting to make a deep dive into the matter, but what’s obvious is that there’s more “Orwellianesque” language involved, because the findings in the newest report are based on, basically, opinion regarding whether or not something is “harmful online speech.”
But also, perhaps in the greater scheme of reality, something irreconcilable with that “improved news quality.”
The summary of the report, which also covers how ACMA, an overseer, sees the future of the “voluntary code” going forward, and the compliance with its previous recommendations, show that those have been successfully integrated into major platforms’ behavior as they operate in Australia.
The result, as overtly presented by the ACMA report: “Australians are increasingly concerned about disinformation and misinformation” (some would say, conspiracy theories have finally won);
So how do you try not to look like a global dummy – if you are already identifiable to the whole world – a “certain narrative-advancing” government?
This, apparently, is how:
“COVID-19, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, climate change issues, and elections around the world have provided focal points for the dissemination of disinformation and misinformation.”
What? These four VERY separate issues, mangled up together like this in PR statements, only serve to prove the point.
Some governments are either fishing for thoughtless acquiescence – or they have made up all four, as election talking points.
There’s nothing substantively solid “sitting behind” these narratives put together, either.
It’s – frankly – the stupidity of “disinformation and misinformation” defined the way it even holds it up – for the moment.
And while Australia may not have (and may never have) a presidential election like the US, and all those secrets to protect – there’s still a national election looming ahead.
