Atlassian's Farquhar: social media laws will 'cost jobs, damage tech'
Atlassian billionaire Scott Farquhar has joined the chorus of tech and media industry figures expressing concerns about new laws being rushed through parliament in the wake of the Christchurch massacre that could result in jail terms for tech executives and multi-billion-dollar fines for their employers.
In a series of tweets late on Tuesday, Mr Farquhar described the legislation as "flawed" and claimed it "will unecessarily cost jobs" in the tech industry.
The legislation, which is an amendment to the Criminal Code Act, passed the Senate on Wednesday and it set to be rushed through the House of Representatives on Thursday, the final sitting day before the election is expected to be called.
The laws follow widespread outrage over the live-streaming of a murderous attack on Muslims in Christchuch last month on Facebook, Google's YouTube and other internet platforms.
Under the laws, an individual could face jail if their social media service or online platform recklessly provides access to or hosts offending material and they do not "expeditiously" put a stop to it.
A company could face a fine of up to 10 per cent of its annual global turnover for the crime. A jury would determine whether a platform's response time is reasonable.
Federal Labor has backed the legislation, despite saying it had "serious concerns" over how it was drafted.
The legislation provides protections for use of relevant material if it "relates to a news report, or a current affairs report that ... is in the public interest" and is produced by a professional journalist.
But media and tech companies remain concerned they could be ensnared by the laws.
Lobby groups representing both the tech and media industries have raised concerns about the laws. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp claimed the legislation "risks criminalising news reporting".
The Attorney-General, Christian Porter, said this week there was a need to legislate quickly after the alleged perpetrator of the Christchurch attack exposed the "appalling" and dangerous flaws of Facebook by live-streaming.
He said the laws could make it possible for the government to prosecute smaller online sites such as forums 8chan and 4chan, and conceded social media giants were more likely to face steep fines than to have executives imprisoned.
Mr Farquhar's fellow billionaire and co-CEO at Atlassian, Mike Cannon-Brookes, expressed similar sentiments. "Our government is wildly off track. This new law makes no sense," he said on Twitter.
Former Microsoft executive Daniel Petre, one of the tech industry's elder statesmen and the head of venture capital firm AirTree Ventures, tweeted: "We have a govt that does not understand innovation nor how to legislate to protect Australians but let the economy flourish".