Internet trolls may be facing trouble down the line in Australia, as the government plans on making moves to make social media platforms reveal their identities.
Trolls are honestly some of the worst kinds of people one can meet across the internet. For one, their quote unquote “pranks” are rarely ever smart and well-thought out, with such users instead resorting to juvenile name calling or spamming comment sections as a form of trolling. Trolls also seem to have a knack for invading spaces that are quite clearly meant to be for serious discussion, often falling racist rhetoric and the like in order to derail discourse surrounding politics or minorities looking to defend themselves on an online platform. With a space like the internet, trolls and the like are completely unavoidable. The online space is far too massive, and caters to literal billions of users. Finding trolls, or tracking down every single smurf account that they operate under is quite the unnecessary hassle, and would require the combined effort of a few major departments.
Apparently, the Australian government feels that it is completely up to the task of doing such a thing. This isn’t even brand new news, since a previous ruling from the High Court had already made the country’s stance on trolling crystal clear. Not more than a few weeks had the Australian High Court ruled that social media companies will be considered answerable for inappropriate or harmful comments on their platforms. That must have been a bad day for Facebook and Twitter, considering how much their userbase relies of Neo-Nazis talking to each other. At any rate, it is only in the light of this decision that lawmakers are becoming more and more bold in their attempts at online moderation.
Australian lawmakers are stating that any and all accounts that are found guilty or suspicious of trolling must have their personal account information handed over by the involved social media accounts. This way, harmful content can be personally moderated by Australia, keeping its citizens safe. Which, if it isn’t clear by now, is nothing short of complete drivel. No country should have such unabated access to personal data, even if the recipients of such punishment are trolls. Naturally, the Australian government will consider legitimate criticism of its actions and endeavors as trolling as well, essentially stoppering any and all political discourse online regarding the country. Sure, China gets a bad rap for the censorship it partakes in (and rightfully so), but I honestly believe that any other country with access to user data would actively take the same steps.
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Read next: Inaction From Cybercrime Victims Might Make Breaches Worse
Trolls are honestly some of the worst kinds of people one can meet across the internet. For one, their quote unquote “pranks” are rarely ever smart and well-thought out, with such users instead resorting to juvenile name calling or spamming comment sections as a form of trolling. Trolls also seem to have a knack for invading spaces that are quite clearly meant to be for serious discussion, often falling racist rhetoric and the like in order to derail discourse surrounding politics or minorities looking to defend themselves on an online platform. With a space like the internet, trolls and the like are completely unavoidable. The online space is far too massive, and caters to literal billions of users. Finding trolls, or tracking down every single smurf account that they operate under is quite the unnecessary hassle, and would require the combined effort of a few major departments.
Apparently, the Australian government feels that it is completely up to the task of doing such a thing. This isn’t even brand new news, since a previous ruling from the High Court had already made the country’s stance on trolling crystal clear. Not more than a few weeks had the Australian High Court ruled that social media companies will be considered answerable for inappropriate or harmful comments on their platforms. That must have been a bad day for Facebook and Twitter, considering how much their userbase relies of Neo-Nazis talking to each other. At any rate, it is only in the light of this decision that lawmakers are becoming more and more bold in their attempts at online moderation.
Australian lawmakers are stating that any and all accounts that are found guilty or suspicious of trolling must have their personal account information handed over by the involved social media accounts. This way, harmful content can be personally moderated by Australia, keeping its citizens safe. Which, if it isn’t clear by now, is nothing short of complete drivel. No country should have such unabated access to personal data, even if the recipients of such punishment are trolls. Naturally, the Australian government will consider legitimate criticism of its actions and endeavors as trolling as well, essentially stoppering any and all political discourse online regarding the country. Sure, China gets a bad rap for the censorship it partakes in (and rightfully so), but I honestly believe that any other country with access to user data would actively take the same steps.
Read next: Inaction From Cybercrime Victims Might Make Breaches Worse