Australia hopes to raise the tougher legislation on tech giants with a new inquiry

Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia will announce a parliamentary inquiry into the behavior of the world’s major technology companies and the need for new legislation on Wednesday.

Australia has taken the lead in limiting the power of companies like Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), enacting legislation that has been hailed as a model for countries to follow.

Morrison will say on Wednesday that the new inquiry will have a broad scope, but that it will include asking committee lawmakers to investigate the algorithms used by social media platforms, how the companies verify identification and age, and the extent to which restrictions on these are enforced, raising the possibility of additional regulation.

Morrison will say “Big tech has big questions to answer, Big tech created these platforms, they have a responsibility to ensure they’re safe.”

Read more: Two tech giants interested in Pakistan’s mobile industry

The revelation of a new investigation is likely to stoke tensions between Australia’s government and Facebook and Google, which recently changed their names to Meta.

Earlier this year, Australia enacted severe new rules requiring both tech giants and local media to pay for content, and Canberra has proposed legislation requiring them to divulge the identity of those who use anonymous accounts if they are accused of defamation by another person.

When Australia proposed legislation requiring both companies to pay local media for news content, Google threatened to shut down its Australian search engine, while Facebook temporarily blocked all third-party content from Australian accounts.

Also Read

Apple and Google tech giants join 6G industry group

5G interacting is progressively becoming the new standard in the smartphone industry...