Snapchat has warned that Australia’s landscape is becoming “very complex” to operate in, also claiming that requiring parental consent for under-16s to sign up to its platform creates “ethical problemxjmtzyws”.
The company’s head of public policy in the Asia Pacific, Henry Turnbull, gave evidence to the parliamentary inquiry into social media and online safety on Tuesday.
He said Australia had lots of different pieces of proposed legislation, regulation, codes and guidance that made it difficult for smaller social media companies – like Snapchat – to navigate.
“At the moment it does feel very confusing from our perspective,” he said.
“If you have one clear regulatory framework it makes it simpler for companies to understand their obligations, it makes it simpler for the government and regulators to hold people to account and it makes it simpler for consumers to understand their rights.
“This, rather than complexity, is what leads to a safer environment for all.”
Mr Turnbull said the Online Safety Act should be broadened to include the Anti-Trolling Bill and the Online Privacy Bill in one piece of legislation with non-conflicting guidelines.
The Online Safety Act came into effect in January and gives the eSafety Commissioner the power to fine people or companies for material that’s deemed to be bullying or abusive if it isn’t removed within 24 hours.
The anti-trolling legislation gives people the ability to unmask anonymous trolls who post defamatory material about them.
That information would only be released with the consent of the poster – however, if they don’t agree, the victim has the option to obtain their identity through a new court order.
The online privacy code would prevent tech companies from accessing a child’s data without the their parent’s permission.
“The privacy Bill, I think most of the requirements are designed to protect privacy and ensure the privacy of users,” Mr Turnbull said.
“But there are measures in there that are actually privacy invasive rather than privacy protective.
“You have a draft requirement for parental consent for anybody below the age of 16 to be able to use an online platform – there’s a whole host of privacy and ethical problems about whether that’s a good idea.
“If you were just thinking about how you make it work, you’re essentially mandating the collection of ID both by younger people and also their parents in order to make that work.
“Mandating tech companies to collect that information I don’t think is keeping within aims of the Bill and I think it would be difficult to see how we can comply with that.”
He said he struggled to see how tech companies committed to protecting user data could “in good conscience” unmask anonymous trolls under the anti-trolling laws.
Mr Turnbull also refused to reveal how many people were employed in Snapchat’s trust and safety team in Australia.
“I think questions specifically about how many people we have in individual countries around the world is not the best indicator of how we do that job and that’s why we’ve never talked about it publicly,” he said.
