Controversial social media content legislation in Australia requires actions in less than an hour

According to ethical hacking training specialists from the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS), social media and content platforms could have less than one hour to identify and delete “inappropriate content” as established by “the world first social media legislation”, recently approved in Australian territory.

This recently approved legislation not only affects social media platforms, but also Internet service providers, content, and hosting that store content both inside and outside Australia.

From now on, both individuals and organizations will face fines or jail time if they are unable to identify and delete content considered offensive within an established time frame, report the ethical hacking training experts.

The time limits for companies to identify and eliminate this content are not yet established, so we may have to wait for the courts to establish some sort of precedent.

On the other hand, the attorney general of Australia, Christian Porter, mentioned during the discussion of this law a relevant point about the estimated time that will have the social media platforms: “Using the example of the shooting in Christchurch, I cannot say with accuracy which would have been the best time for Facebook to eliminate the live streaming of that incident. What I can say is that it is completely irrational for that kind of content to remain on a platform like Facebook for more than an hour.”

The Attorney General maintains that this law will prevent a similar incident from being transmitted again on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms that allow for live streaming.

Also, the ethical hacking training specialists mention that Internet content providers should notify the authorities if they identify any kind of inappropriate material (videos, photos, audio, etc.). The Australian authorities may also decree the immediate elimination of content originating outside Australian territory.