SYDNEY: Australia’s government said on Sunday it will introduce legislation to unmask online trolls and hold social media giants like Facebook and Twitter responsible for identifying them.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose conservative coalition government faces an election in the first half of 2022, said the law would protect Australians from online abuse and harassment.

“The online world should not be a wild west where bots and bigots and trolls and others can just anonymously go around and harm people and hurt people, harass them and bully them and sled them,” Morrison told reporters.

“That is not what can happen in the real world, and there is no case for it to be able to be happening in the digital world.”

Attorney General Michaelia Cash said the legislation, reportedly to be introduced to parliament by early 2022, was needed to clarify that the social media platforms, and not the users, were responsible for defamatory comments by other people.

Attorney general says legislation is needed to clarify that social media platforms, and not the users, are responsible for defamatory comments

Confusion had been sown by a High Court ruling in September that found Australian media, as users managing their own pages on a social network, could be held liable for defamatory third-party comments posted on their pages, Cash said.

Under the planned Australian legislation, the social media companies themselves would be responsible for such defamatory content, not the users, she said.

It would also aim to stop people from making defamatory comments without being identified, she said.

“You should not be able to use the cloak of online anonymity to spread your vile, defamatory comments,” the attorney general said.

The legislation would demand that social media platforms have a nominated entity based in Australia, she said.

The platforms could defend themselves from being sued as the publisher of defamatory comments only if they complied with the new legislation’s demands to have a complaints system in place that could provide the details of the person making the comment, if necessary, Cash said.

People would also be able to apply to the High Court for an “information disclosure order” demanding a social media service provide details “to unmask the troll”, the attorney general said.

In some cases, she said, the “troll” may be asked to take down the comment, which could end the matter if the other side is satisfied.

Australia’s opposition leader Anthony Albanese said he would support a safer online environment for everyone.

But he said the government had failed to propose action to stop the spread of misinformation on social media and accused some of the government’s own members of spreading misinformation about Covid and vaccinations.

VILNIUS: European Union and Nato leaders on Sunday vowed to counter “hybrid threats” during visits to Lithuania and Latvia dominated by the Belarus migrant crisis and Russia’s military build-up near Ukraine.

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg also repeated his call on Russia to “de-escalate” its military build-up on the border with Ukraine and warned of “consequences” if it used force.

The visit by Stoltenberg and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen came ahead of a meeting of Nato foreign ministers, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in Latvia this week.

Stoltenberg and von der Leyen both accused Belarus of orchestrating the migrant crisis on its border as a “hybrid” threat against the European Union — a charge that the regime has denied. A hybrid threat is a security challenge combining traditional military means and non-military tactics such as disinformation.

“To respond to such events, it is important that the European Union and Nato work hand in hand,” von der Leyen said at a joint news conference with Stoltenberg and Lithuanian leaders in Vilnius.

Stoltenberg said: “We discussed how we could step up our joint work between Nato and the EU”.

Von der Leyen said the EU had decided to triple to $226 million in its funding for border management in Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland for 2021 and 2022.

She said the money would go on patrol vehicles and electronic surveillance, including drones.

Thousands of migrants — mostly from the Middle East — have crossed or tried to cross the Belarus border in recent months into the eastern members of the EU and Nato: Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.

Referring to the situation on the Belarus border, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that “if the security situation gets even worse, we do not rule out consultations under Nato’s Article 4”.

Under the article in Nato’s founding treaty, any member can convene a meeting of the alliance to consult when it feels its security is threatened. Poland has also said it may invoke this article.

The two-day meeting of Nato foreign ministers starting in Latvia on Tuesday is also expected to address Russia’s military build-up near Ukraine.

Stoltenberg said the “unusual” build-up of tanks, artillery, drones, and thousands of combat-ready troops was “very concerning for many reasons”, also “because it is unprovoked and unexplained”.

“The message to Russia is that they should de-escalate, reduce tensions and be transparent,” he said, adding that “if they decide to use force, then, of course, there will be consequences”.

“We stand ready to defend all our allies and we will continue to provide our partner Ukraine with political and practical support,” he said.