The big question

Professor Peter Greste

School of Communication and Arts
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

At a time when everyone is acutely aware of the impact of ‘fake news’ on public discourse, the idea of regulation seems appealing, but is the wrong approach.

‘Fake news’ is a deceptively simple term for a horribly complex phenomenon.

Those who are behind ‘fake news’ will almost inevitably find ways around the rules.

At the same time, imposing regulations opens the door for government censorship and the control of free speech.

It would be far better to find ways of helping social media sites verify information, and of strengthening the media, so that the public has trusted sources it can rely on.

Professor Peter Greste

Professor Katharine Gelber

School of Political Science and International Studies
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Social media is flooded with fake news, misinformation and untruths.

A suggestion of government regulation to prevent this might sound tempting. But there is a massive problem: how would this be done?

Currently, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter do some of their own moderation, but they do it very badly with accusations of poorly drafted policies and under-trained workers.

Due to the importance of free speech, government cannot regulate everything on social media – to do so would create grossly disproportionate screening and oversight of everyone’s communications.

The best remedy is for the government to enact narrowly targeted regulations combined with leadership in valuing and rewarding truth and evidence-based reasoning.

Professor Graeme Orr

UQ Law School
Faculty of Business, Economics and Law

Regulate social media? That’s censorship! What about freedom of the press and all that? Except it wouldn’t be.

We have had trade practices laws against misleading business speech and promotions since the 1970s.

There is no government ‘censor’. Instead there are private complaints, with an independent watchdog and courts.

So why not sociopolitical speech? The problem with the internet isn’t that it’s a fast-moving cesspit.

TV and radio can be too, but they have minimum standards on bias and lies.

Big social media sites are like talkback radio. As they replace older media, they can’t expect a world without standards.

But the problem with the internet – especially social media – is that it is all of us, often at our worst. The law is always for others, not us.

Professor Graeme Orr

Associate Professor Paul Henman

Centre for Policy Futures and School of Social Science
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

As the functioning of society and the economy are undermined by widespread fake news and misinformation, government regulation that balances various rights is needed.

Government can shape expectations and provide frameworks for social media sites, such as the European Commission’s voluntary Code of Practice against discrimination.

Social media companies can increase funding for fact checking services. Assessment of the credibility of news publishers can inform news feeds.

Fake accounts and malicious automated systems can be removed.

Enforcing local regulations for political and corporate advertising can be strengthened.

Users can be assisted with information and tools to self-assess the credibility of what they read.

Stronger enforceable regulation is now emerging and being asked for from social media sites.

Have your say

Should the government regulate social media sites as a means to prevent fake news and misinformation?

Your comments here are governed by Facebook Terms of Service and UQ Social Media Terms of Use.