Our disinformation panel event considered the question of how to tackle disinformation from a human rights perspective, with the backdrop of disinformation during the US election and fierce debate in Australia surrounding the government’s proposed Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024.

The event included insights from our secondee who spent three months at the Australian Human Rights Commission looking at disinformation and featured Lorraine Findlay, Australian Human Rights Commissioner, David Mejia-Canales, Senior Lawyer with the Human Rights Law Centre, Misha Ketchell, Editor and Executive Director of The Conversation and Richard Leder, our head of Commercial Litigation.

The event took real examples from the US election campaign, and discussed how our current laws, designed before the internet was invented, are not adequately protecting people from the risks posed by misinformation and disinformation and considered whether the government’s proposal for a new law would provide better protection. After a lively discussion between the panellists and audience, the room agreed on a duty of care approach which reflects where the government has started to explore potential protections after abandoning the Bill.

View the 'Tackling disinformation from a human rights perspective' recording.