AAP FACTCHECK – The Australian government will supposedly make “misogynistic speech” on social media illegal, according to claims online.
This is false. The government is proposing to criminalise deepfake pornography and doxxing, but not misogynistic speech.
The claim appears in the headline of an article from notorious misinformation publisher The People’s Voice, which has been shared on Facebook and X (formally Twitter).
“Australia to make ‘misogynistic’ speech on social media a criminal offence,” the headline claims.
The article’s first sentence goes even further than the headline, alleging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will make misogyny itself a criminal offence, not just online misogynistic speech.
The deceptive article then provides genuine quotes from the PM about the issue of misogynistic online influencers.
“Social platforms have important social responsibilities and we need them to step up”, the PM adds.
“Taken together, these reforms will give Australian families some of the tools they need to navigate the complexity of the digital world.”
These quotes match those in a government press release titled Tackling Online Harms from May 1, 2024.
The People’s Voice also claims that Mr Albanese said, “The legislation would carry ‘serious criminal penalties,” citing an unverified report from another suspicious website.
However, the PM doesn’t say the words “criminal penalties” in any of his quotes in the release.
The only person to use the phrase is Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, but he does not mention it in relation to misogynistic speech online.
“These reforms will make clear that those who seek to abuse or degrade women through doxxing, deepfakes, or by abusing their privacy online, will be subject to serious criminal penalties,” Mr Dreyfus says.
The press release clearly explains that creating and sharing sexually explicit material without consent, using technology like artificial intelligence, will be subject to serious criminal penalties.
It also announces reforms targeting online misogynistic speech, but these involve an online prevention campaign called Stop it at the Start, not criminal penalties.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office told AAP FactCheck there’s no proposal to make online misogynistic speech a criminal offence.
The Verdict
The claim that Australia will make misogynistic speech on social media a criminal offence is false.
The government told AAP FactCheck there’s no proposal to make it an offence.
The claim misinterprets a proposal to criminalise some acts, including doxxing and creating or sharing deepfake pornography without consent.
False — The claim is inaccurate.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
All information, text and images included on the AAP Websites is for personal use only and may not be re-written, copied, re-sold or re-distributed, framed, linked, shared onto social media or otherwise used whether for compensation of any kind or not, unless you have the prior written permission of AAP. For more information, please refer to our standard terms and conditions.
