As a result of the Australian government’s recent announcement of new regulations aimed at combating “misinformation and disinformation,” social media companies like Elon Musk’s Twitter and others might be subject to billion-dollar fines.
The draft law that would give the nation’s media regulatory body, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), more authority to stifle damaging information online was unveiled after months of preparation by Communications Minister Michelle Rowland.
“Mis and disinformation sows division within the community, undermines trust, and can threaten public health and safety,” the Labor communications minister said in a statement on June 26.
This consultation process gives industry and the public the opportunity to have their say on the proposed framework, which aims to strike the right balance between protection from harmful mis and disinformation online and freedom of speech.
The government has pledged that ACMA will not have the power to determine what is “true or false” on individual posts and will have no impact on “professional news content or authorised electoral content.”
New Standards and Penalties
The Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023 introduces a two-tiered system to regulate mis- or disinformation online.
Similar to the telecoms sector, the first layer will see ACMA ask social media businesses to create industry codes that will be registered and enforced by ACMA.
Significant penalties, including a $2.75 million fine or two percent of worldwide turnover, whichever is higher, will be imposed for violations of this code.
If the code is violated, the ACMA will be responsible for developing and enforcing an industry standard (a more stringent type of regulation) that carries even greater fines of $6.8 million or 5% of worldwide revenue, which translates to millions of dollars for Twitter and billions of dollars for businesses like Meta (Facebook).
The purpose of these rules is to reinforce current voluntary codes created by the Digital Industry Group.
Concerns raised by the federal opposition center on how ACMA will define “misinformation or disinformation.”
“This is a complex area of policy, and government overreach must be avoided,” said David Coleman, the shadow communications minister.
“The public will want to know exactly who decides whether a particular piece of content is ‘misinformation’ or ‘disinformation.’
“The significant penalties associated with this legislation potentially places substantial power in the hands of government officials,” he said in a statement online.
Dr. Nick Coatsworth, a former deputy chief medical officer who has publicly argued with other physicians on lockdown procedures and vaccinations, was also skeptical of the laws.
“Misinformation is an accusation thrown so readily that such legislation would be impossible to implement; and if it was implemented, would inevitably lead to fines being levied for things that are not, or turn out not to be,” he wrote on Twitter
.
Misinformation is an accusation thrown so readily that such legislation would be impossible to implement; and if it was implemented, would inevitably lead to fines being levied for things that are not, or turn out not to be. https://t.co/tBmv7Y7zCA
— Dr. Nick Coatsworth (@nick_coatsworth) June 25, 2023
The public is invited to provide recommendations on the proposed law before August 6, 2023.
Musk’s Ongoing Clash with Australian Authorities
The broadcast regulator in Australia is called ACMA, and it has a larger range of responsibilities than the eSafety commissioner, who only looks at online material.
Just a few days prior, the commissioner threatened Twitter with fines up to $700,000 (US$476,000) per day unless it provided details regarding its efforts to halt “hate speech” on it’s site.
The commissioner says it has received “more complaints about online hate on Twitter in the past 12 months” than any other platform and alleges an “increasing number” of reports of serious online abuse since Musk took over in October 2022.
Additionally, Commissioner Julie Inman Grant blamed Elon Musk’s decision to reduce Twitter’s worldwide staff from 8,000 to 1,500 (including its “trust and safety teams”) and remove its public policy presence in Australia for the rise in “hate speech.”
According to Musk, the firm was overstaffed and inefficient, and even while Twitter is well-known and widely utilized, it has failed to regularly earn a profit. This is why the personnel reductions were essential.
There is no right to free expression in Australia, according to Rob Nicholls, an associate professor at the University of New South Wales, and there is only an “implied right of political communication.”
Neither was this privilege codified in law; rather, courts took it from common law.
“As usual in an Australian environment, not doing what you say is more problematic from a regulatory perspective than problematic conduct,” he previously told The Epoch Times via email.
“It’s important to note that the eSafety commissioner’s comments were about Twitter promoting hate speech when it has a policy to prohibit hateful conduct on the platform.”
According to Nicholls, Twitter’s lack of an Australian public policy presence to interact with authorities would work against the social media behemoth.
In a disturbing twist to last week’s targeted violence against Minnesota officials, sources reveal that a conspiratorial letter left behind by shooting suspect Vance Boelter accuses Governor Tim Walz of orchestrating a political assassination plot. The letter, addressed to the FBI, allegedly claims Walz instructed Boelter to kill U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar so that Walz could seek her Senate seat—a position he has not expressed any intent to pursue.
Two individuals with direct knowledge of the letter described it as incoherent, one and a half pages long, and filled with paranoid ramblings. The letter allegedly outlines unsubstantiated claims that Boelter was trained “off the books” by the U.S. military, and that Walz had enlisted him to assassinate Klobuchar and potentially other politicians, including a veiled reference to Sen. Tina Smith.
Federal prosecutors say Boelter left the letter in a Buick abandoned near his home in Green Isle, Minnesota. It is believed to include a confession to the killings of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, as well as the shootings of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette.
Boelter, 57, now faces federal charges including:
Two counts of stalking Rep. Hortman and Sen. Hoffman using interstate facilities;
Two counts of murder in the deaths of the Hortmans;
Two counts of firearm use in the shootings of the Hortmans and Hoffmans.
While federal authorities declined to comment on the letter’s contents, local officials addressed the severity of the situation. Hennepin County Attorney’s Office spokesperson Daniel Borgertpoepping stated they could not comment on an open investigation, but added, “We have seen no evidence that the allegations regarding Governor Walz are based in fact.”
Gov. Walz’s spokesman, Teddy Tschann, called the events “deeply disturbing for all Minnesotans” and praised law enforcement and prosecutors for their swift actions.
Sen. Klobuchar issued a strong response, saying, “Boelter is a very dangerous man and I am deeply grateful that law enforcement got him behind bars before he killed other people.”
Documents obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune also reveal that Boelter held a valid carry license as recently as 2020, issued while he was still affiliated with his family’s private security firm.
With more details likely to surface as the investigation unfolds, the letter marks a chilling insight into Boelter’s delusions—and highlights the growing threats facing public officials.
A new study from the MIT Media Lab has raised concerns about the long-term effects of using artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT on human cognition. The research, released this month, suggests that relying on large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT could impair an individual’s critical thinking abilities, especially with prolonged use.
Researchers observed participants over several months as they completed SAT-style essay assignments. The subjects were divided into three groups: one using ChatGPT, another using Google’s search engine, and a third group relying solely on their own thinking—dubbed the “brain-only” group.
To analyze brain activity during the writing tasks, researchers used electroencephalography (EEG) to monitor neural engagement across different regions of the brain. The results showed a stark difference in cognitive involvement among the groups.
According to the study, those using ChatGPT demonstrated the lowest level of brain engagement. Over time, these participants began to rely more heavily on the AI, eventually moving from asking structural questions to simply copying and pasting complete essays. The researchers noted that this group “consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.”
Participants who used Google showed moderate brain activity, while the “brain-only” group displayed the strongest and most widespread neural activity, indicating deeper cognitive involvement throughout the writing process.
The study’s lead author, Nataliya Kosmyna, emphasized the urgency of the findings, particularly as AI tools become more integrated into education.
“What really motivated me to put it out now before waiting for a full peer review is that I am afraid in 6–8 months, there will be some policymaker who decides, ‘let’s do GPT kindergarten.’ I think that would be absolutely bad and detrimental,” Kosmyna told Time
magazine. “Developing brains are at the highest risk.”
The study highlights growing concerns among educators about how easily accessible AI tools are enabling academic dishonesty and changing how students learn. Despite these concerns, AI integration in classrooms appears to be accelerating.
In April, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order promoting the use of AI in American schools. The policy aims to prepare young students for a future economy shaped by AI advancements.
“The basic idea of this executive order is to ensure that we properly train the workforce of the future by ensuring that school children, young Americans, are adequately trained in AI tools, so that they can be competitive in the economy years from now into the future, as AI becomes a bigger and bigger deal,” White House staff secretary Will Scharf said at the time.
As the debate over AI’s role in education continues, this new research may fuel broader discussions on how to balance technological innovation with cognitive development—especially for younger generations.
SACRAMENTO, CA — Former Los Angeles Mayor and current California gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa has publicly alleged that Kamala Harris and Xavier Becerra were involved in concealing former President Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline during his time in office.
Villaraigosa, a Democrat, made the claim amid a heated California gubernatorial race. Becerra, the former Secretary of Health and Human Services, is also a candidate, while speculation continues over a potential Harris bid. The race comes as current Governor Gavin Newsom reaches the end of his second and final term, per California’s two-term limit.
In a statement referencing recent reporting and excerpts from the book Original Sin, Villaraigosa stated:
“What I’ve seen in news coverage and excerpts from the new book ‘Original Sin’ is deeply troubling. At the highest levels of our government, those in power were intentionally complicit or told outright lies in a systematic cover up to keep Joe Biden’s mental decline from the public.”
Both Harris and Becerra previously served as California Attorney General. Villaraigosa emphasized their past leadership roles, stating:
“Now, we have come to learn this cover up includes two prominent California politicians who served as California Attorney General – one who is running for Governor and another who is thinking about running for Governor.”
He added:
“Those who were complicit in the cover up should take responsibility for the part they played in this debacle, hold themselves accountable, and apologize to the American people. I call on Kamala Harris and Xavier Becerra to do just that – and make themselves available to voters and the free press because there’s a lot of questions that need to be answered.”
Becerra responded in a statement, saying:
“It’s clear the President was getting older, but he made the mission clear: run the largest health agency in the world, expand care to millions more Americans than ever before, negotiate down the cost of prescription drugs, and pull us out of a world-wide pandemic. And we delivered.”
Kamala Harris has not issued a public response. Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to the offices of Harris and the Bidens but had not received a reply at the time of publication.
The allegations come as discussions about Biden’s cognitive and physical health continue. Earlier this month, during an appearance on The View, Biden dismissed claims of cognitive decline during his presidency.
In related developments, Biden’s personal office recently confirmed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer characterized by a high Gleason score and metastasis to the bone.
Villaraigosa’s comments are the latest in a growing list of concerns raised within the Democratic Party about leadership transparency and accountability in the final years of the Biden administration.
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