Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation

On February 22 2021, DIGI launched a new code of practice that commits a diverse set of technology companies to reducing the risk of online misinformation causing harm to Australians.

The Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation has been adopted by Twitter, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Redbubble, and TikTok.

All signatories commit to safeguards to protect Australians against harm from online disinformation and misinformation, and adopting a range of scalable measures that reduce its spread and visibility.

Participating companies also commit to releasing an annual transparency report about their efforts under the code, which will help improve understanding of online misinformation and disinformation in Australia over time. The first set of transparency reports will be published here in May, 2021.

DIGI developed this code with assistance from the University of Technology Sydney’s Centre for Media Transition, and First Draft, a global organisation that specialises in helping societies overcome false and misleading information. The final code has been informed by a robust public consultation process.

The Code was developed in response to the Australian Government policy announced in December 2019, where the digital industry was asked to develop a voluntary code of practice on disinformation, drawing learnings from a similar code in the European Union.

What’s in the code?

In under two minutes, this explainer video provides a quick overview of what’s in the code.