Australia's human rights commissioner has raised concerns about Labor's sweeping legislative crackdown on digital platforms, warning that rushed laws to impose minimum age limits on social media could limit freedom of expression and cause more harm than intended.
Children aged up to 16 could be banned from accessing social media and gaming platforms next year, under legislation to be introduced by the Albanese government before the next election.
Lorraine Finlay, who is halfway through her five-year term as human rights commissioner, said any federal law to regulate social media use must be carefully implemented to ensure it does not negatively impact how children engage online.
"It's really important that while we recognise a need to act with urgency to address harms that are occurring, we don't rush in and create a law that won't work and that hasn't had proper consultation with children - who are the ones that are going to be most directly affected," Ms Finlay said.
"Undoubtedly, there are harms that are happening now that we need to address, and we need to make sure that we're protecting kids.
"But at the same time, we need to make sure that any laws we introduce, we're thinking about how these are practically going to be implemented, and we ensure that children don't lose potential benefits from being able to engage online."
Labor last month introduced a raft of measures aimed at shielding people from online harms, including proposed online misinformation and disinformation laws, changes to privacy reform, and the creation of offences around doxxing.
The Albanese government's pursuit of tougher regulation for big tech companies has been fuelled by a surge in online hate speech amid the Gaza conflict and a rapid spread of disinformation seen after two stabbing incidents in Sydney earlier this year.
Labor's most contentious draft laws, which allow fines for tech companies who host misinformation and disinformation, have sparked backlash for infringing too heavily on free speech.
After being reworked and reintroduced into Parliament in September, the government said its revamped bill would target "fake news" that risked undermining elections, circulating false health advice or vilifying individuals or groups based on features such as sex, race or gender.
The misinformation bill has been strongly opposed by the Coalition and requires the support of the Greens and at least three crossbench MPs to pass through the Senate.
The commissioner said the new bill was an "improvement" but argued key definitions set out in the legislation were far too broad and risked capturing people's genuine opinions.
"In terms of the short-term consequences of this bill, if it's passed, that it will dramatically reduce Australians freedom of speech that they currently have," she said.
"It raises the potential for opinions that might be unpopular to actually be censored and for Australians to have much less freedom online in terms of what they are and aren't allowed to say."
Ms Finlay said the government's digital reforms needed to be "cohesively packaged" in a way that makes it easier for Australians to understand and harness the benefits of technology while protecting people from harm.
"My concern is that by dealing with things in kind of a piecemeal way, we are not necessarily connecting all of those dots," she said.
"And we run the risk that we end up with laws that have unintended consequences and that more severely limit our human rights than we actually intended."
A spokesperson for Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the government was working to pass its misinformation bill by the end of November.
Asked if it would take its time to introduce a social media ban, they said the government will continue to consult closely with young people.
In addition to this direct consultation with youth, the government has also consulted with academics and child-development experts, community organisations, civil society organisations and platforms," a spokesperson said.
