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Australia to introduce new laws to force media platforms to unmask online trolls -Breaking

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© Reuters. FILE PHOTO – A man snaps a picture with his mobile phone of the glass ceiling in a Sydney shopping center, Australia on July 3, 2017. REUTERS/Steven Saphore

MELBOURNE (Reuters), – Australia will adopt legislation that requires social media platforms to disclose the identities of people who make defamatory statements, Scott Morrison, Prime Minister, said Sunday.

After the ruling of the highest court in the country that online forum posters can be held responsible for any comments made, the government is now looking into the scope of responsibility for platforms like Twitter (NYSE) and Facebook (NASDAQ).

Some news organizations, such as CNN, decided to block Australians from accessing their Facebook pages.

“The online world should not be a wild west where bots and bigots and trolls and others are anonymously going around and can harm people,” Morrison said at a televised press briefing.

“That is not what can happen in the real world, and there is no case for it to be able to be happening in the digital world.”

New legislation will include a complaint procedure, which allows anyone to complain if they feel they are being bullied, defamed, or attacked by social media.

A court could order a social media site to give details about the commenter if the content isn’t withdrawn.

“Digital platforms – these online companies – must have proper processes to enable the takedown of this content,” Morrison said.

“They have created the space and they need to make it safe, and if they won’t, we will make them (through) laws such as this.”

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