With Aaron M Lane. Available in PDF.
Misinformation and disinformation are a perennial concern of democratic discourse. Plato even complained about it. The government is right to identify that the mechanisms for the transmission of mis/disinformation have changed significantly since the advent of social media. The innovation and consumer benefit from social media and digital platforms has been overwhelmingly positive. Nevertheless, it is plausible that the harm and consequences of misinformation have materially increased as a consequence of these changing patterns of transmission. Even if so, this bill is badly misconceived.
We consider here four key reasons why this bill should be withdrawn: the bill presents a significant threat to free speech, the bill delegates too much responsibility to regulators, the bill will undermine trust in public debate, and the bill mischaracterises the misinformation problem.