Australia, Singapore crack down on online media

Bloomberg

Governments in the Asia Pacific region are accelerating efforts to fight malicious use of online media, unveiling laws that make it easier to target websites which enable distribution of criminal or fraudulent content.
Australia said it will legislate “tough” new laws to prevent social-media platforms from being “weaponised” by terrorists and extremists who may use them to live-stream violent crimes, such as this month’s terror attack in New Zealand.
Singapore said it will introduce a law to halt the spread of “fake news.”
Facebook Inc came under sharp criticism for not taking down a video in which the alleged gunman killed 50 people in two mosques in Christchurch fast enough, and for allowing it be circulated across the internet and uploaded to platforms like YouTube. The social-media company was considering placing restrictions on who could post live videos in the wake of the shooting that was filmed and disseminated in real time.
“Social media companies, like Facebook, which met with the Prime Minister, the Attorney-General, myself” and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton “earlier this week did not present any immediate solutions to the issues arising out of the horror that occurred in Christchurch,” Australia’s Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield said.
The new legislation would be introduced into parliament next week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in the press release. New offences will incur penalties of up 10 percent of a company’s annual turnover and potential prison sentences for executives of social-media companies that fail to act to remove abhorrent violent material from their platforms, Attorney-General Christian Porter said in the statement.