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‘Serious consequences’: Voters concerned fake news will impact on the Australian federal election
Sixty per cent of Australian voters are concerned about fake news hitting the election campaign, with young people most worried about its impact.
It comes as Wentworth MP Kerryn Phelps and cricketer Shane Warne were hit by fake news within days of the election being called.
A majority of Australians in all age groups are worried about the spread of misinformation, a YouGov Galaxy poll taken exclusively for News Corp shows.
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Dr Phelps’ team are assessing whether there are any threats to her safety after she was targeted by multiple fake news emails containing racist and homophobic slurs.
The emails appear similar to an email released during the Wentworth by-election that falsely claimed she was diagnosed with HIV.
She has referred the emails to the Australian Federal Police, who are seeking more information before they decide whether to investigate.
“I really hope that they’re able to take down the individual or the group who is involved in this because … there are serious consequences to this kind of hate speech,” Dr Phelps told News Corp.
“The hate rhetoric has really escalated in this piece. It’s disturbing for its anti-Semitic and homophobic and racist content.”
News Corp can also reveal tech giants like Facebook and Google will face pressure to crack down on fake news if Labor wins the election.
Labor’s Communications spokeswoman Michelle Rowland plans to look at a number of extra measures to tackle fake news, including an education campaign on media literacy or getting social media companies to use technology to “weed out fake pages”.
“We expect major digital platforms to be doing all they can to combat misinformation,” Ms Rowland told News Corp.
“Fake news and disinformation threatens our democracy and it is an ongoing challenge for which there is no quick fix. Indeed it’s an area where simplistic solutions can be problematic,” she said.
“We need a multifaceted response that supports the production of trusted public interest journalism, that builds the media literacy of people of all ages so they can identify trusted sources, and that uses technology to weed out fake pages and groups set up to spam citizens and consumers.”
Labor will await the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s final report on its inquiry into the behaviour of digital platforms like Google and Facebook before it unveils any plans to tackle fake news.
The ACCC will report its findings by June 3.
Special Minister of State Alex Hawke said the government had already taken several steps to safeguard the election, including banning foreign donations and re-establishing the multi-agency Electoral Integrity Assurance Taskforce.
“There is currently no evidence of foreign interference in our electoral system, but the Morrison Government is taking a proactive approach to protecting our elections from any threats of foreign interference,” Mr Hawke said.
He added that the rise of foreign actors “seeking to interfere and undermine electoral processes around the world” was a “disturbing trend”.
The Greens will push for an independent inquiry into social media to examine how sites like Facebook and Twitter “contribute to public discourse” and “how they can be held to account when they fall short of community standards”.
Millennials were the most concerned about inaccurate online information with 61 per cent of respondents to YouGov poll of 2225 Australians in March calling it a serious issue.
Generation X and Baby Boomers were only slightly less concerned at 58 per cent and 57 per cent respectively.
Originally published as Voters worried about fake news effects
