“Big Tech” is celebrating one victory over the Albanese government, but is set to lose on another front.
Ahead of the final parliamentary sitting week for 2024, the government has not just withdrawn its bill aimed at curbing misinformation and disinformation, but says it won’t attempt to bring it back if re-elected for a second term. The government calculates the Senate wouldn’t be any better for it on the bill post-election.
The bill had no chance of passing the Senate, with the Coalition, the Greens and other crossbenchers lining up against it. It has been widely criticised from both the right (on freedom-of-speech grounds) and the left (for being too weak), with an earlier attempt at revising it failing to overcome objections.
