'Serious concerns': White House takes aim at Communication Minister Anika Wells' internet laws amid foreign tech crackdown
Labor’s proposed digital regime has become a flashpoint between Washington and Canberra, as the White House directly questions whether Communications Minister Anika Wells is setting up a "mechanism for censorship".
Labor’s controversial digital laws have emerged as a diplomatic sore point between Australia and the United States, with the White House taking the extraordinary step of publicly rebuking the Albanese government and calling out the Communications Minister’s powers over online speech.
The Trump administration has released a lengthy critique of Labor’s Digital Duty of Care, warning the proposed regime could facilitate censorship, suppress protected speech and impose burdens on US tech giants.
The intervention represents a major escalation in a dispute that had already been simmering between Canberra and Washington over the Albanese government’s increasingly interventionist approach to social media and technology regulation.
US President Donald Trump has previously made protecting American technology companies from foreign interference a major priority of his second administration.
President Trump last year directed his administration to consider tariffs and other retaliatory measures where foreign governments impose discriminatory or disproportionate fines, regulations or other burdens on American companies.
The White House specifically directed US officials to investigate foreign regulations that could force American technology companies to moderate content in ways that undermine freedom of speech or political engagement.
The Albanese government’s proposed Digital Duty of Care has since raised the ire of the Trump administration, with the US putting Communications Minister Anika Wells in their sights.
In a rare public intervention into Australian policy, the US government has declared it holds “serious concerns” about the proposed legislation and directly questioned how the Australian government – specifically Communications Minister Anika Wells – would decide what constitutes “harmful content".
The White House warned that platforms could respond to the threat of substantial penalties by suppressing lawful speech before regulators even intervened.
Ms Wells has moved to impose fines of up to $109.2 million on social media algorithms directing people to “harmful content”.
“A framework that empowers governments to enforce vague definitions of ‘harm’ risks becoming a mechanism for viewpoint-based censorship, as platforms will be incentivised to over-moderate speech that should be protected to avoid regulatory penalties,” the US government said.
The submission was published as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited the United States for the United Nations General Assembly, where he was promoting Australia’s approach to technology regulation.
The White House also issued a similarly critical statement about the UK's proposed internet framework which would require platforms to designate media outlets as "trustworthy".
PM rejects criticism
Asked about the US statement on the Digital Duty of Care and its concerns about censorship, Mr Albanese said he was "not at all" worried by the intervention.
"The fact is that we have released an exposure draft of legislation. We haven't even introduced the legislation before parliament," he said.
"We will engage constructively. I would hope that the whole of parliament… supports it. This should not be a partisan issue.
"This is about giving power back to Australians rather than big global tech companies."
The government has said the laws will give social media users powers over their algorithm, but they will also grow government power to limit "harmful content".
Greens Senator David Shoebridge also responded to the Trump administration, accusing it of "foreign interference".
"This is an extraordinary act of direct foreign interference by the US Embassy in domestic Australian politics," he said.
"The Australian government should publicly respond by rejecting efforts by the US Embassy to dictate how Australia legislates for a Digital Duty of Care."
White House calls out Wells' powers
The Trump administration has set in its sight Ms Wells’ power to decide what constitutes harm online.
Labor’s exposure draft would establish a Digital Duty of Care requiring online services to take greater responsibility for risks created by their systems and products.
https://www.news24.com.au/politics/australian-politics/serious-concerns-white-house-takes-aim-at-communication-minister-anika-wells-internet-laws-amid-foreign-tech-crackdown/news-story/667ba66e4d42defee0b6aa0cfb9b4d3c