Twitter’s attempt to dismiss a complaint by the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network (AMAN) over hateful content on their platform has been rejected by the Queensland Human Rights Commission (QHRC).
AMAN had accused Twitter Australia and Twitter Inc of failing to act against accounts that incite hatred. AMAN lodged the complaint under Queensland’s Anti-Discrimination Act, alleging Twitter’s responsibility as a publisher of third-party accounts and its discrimination for refusing to act against hateful content.
In its complaint, AMAN cited as an example a far-right account that has been referred to in the manifesto of a white supremacist and mass murderer. The platform had repeatedly refused to delete the account or take down replies to its posts which refer to the Qur’an as “the terrorist handbook” and to Islam as “the most violent and sexually perverse cult”.
The complaint to the commission also contained 419 items, including 29 tweets which AMAN contends incited hatred and 390 comments and quotes on those tweets.
Twitter argued the complaint should be dismissed as it does not host, operate, or control the Twitter service – which is controlled by Twitter Inc., but the QHRC disagreed and referred the matter to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal for jurisdiction.
The QHRC did not agree with Twitter that the complaint was “misconceived or lacking in substance” and questioned Twitter’s claims that the state’s legislation does not apply to them. “A foreign person is not immune from [the] application of Queensland legislation in respect of things that occur in Queensland,” a QHRC officer said. “The service is available and operates within Queensland and as such, it is likely to be required [to] comply with Queensland legislation.”
AMAN said Twitter’s approach “contradicts” the position put forward by Twitter Inc’s chief executive, Elon Musk, at February’s world government summit in Dubai.
“Social media companies should adhere to the laws of countries, and not try to put a thumb on the scale beyond the laws of countries,” Musk said at the summit.
“I think that the general idea is to reflect the values of the people as opposed to imposing the values of, essentially San Francisco and Berkley, which are somewhat of a niche ideology as compared to the rest of the world.”
Community groups like AMAN have been forced to bring one legal action after another to assert their right to live free from discrimination.
This case will address the issue of social media companies’ liability for content published on their platforms and whether it is discriminatory for them not to uphold local standards.
Read the full article at the Guardian Australia.
You can email advocacy@aman.net.au for further information, keep up to date with AMAN’s activities at www.aman.net.au and support the work of AMAN by donating to:
BANK: Commonwealth
Account Name: AMAN Ltd
BSB: 064162
ACCOUNT NO.: 11221996
REF: AMUST1
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