Tough new laws for social media companies in Australia

Canberra, March 30: Australia is to become the first country in the world to introduce jail terms and multi-million-dollar fines for social media giants that don't quickly remove violent material. The laws will also give the e-Safety Commissioner the power to issue notices that bring this type of material to the attention of the social media companies. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has issued a global call to combat the ideology of terrorism.

This move has come in effect after notable misuse of social media. When a gunman opened fire at people attending prayers at the mosque in New Zealand and uploaded violent video.

In what is expected to be the final week of parliament before the federal election, the government will introduce legislation adding two new sets of offences in the criminal code.

These tough new laws will make it a criminal offence for social media platforms to not remove abhorrent violent material quickly.

The speed of the removal would be determined by a jury.

This would be punishable by three years' jail for Australian or overseas executives, or fines that can reach up to 10 per cent of the platform's global annual turnover.

Mr Morrison and Mr Porter were left unimpressed after a meeting with social media companies earlier this week, called in response to the live-streaming of the killing of 50 people in two New Zealand mosques.

20 thousand people attended the emotional remembrance of Christchurch terror attack victims. Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison attends Christchurch memorial service and 59 delegates from across the globe attended to pay their respects to the 50 people who lost their lives.