On 25 July a new online safety code came into effect. It was drawn up and agreed between a number of online players such as Netsafe, NZTech, Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp), Google owner YouTube, Twitch-owner Amazon, Twitter and TikTok.
The Code obliges tech companies to actively reduce harmful content on relevant digital platforms and services in New Zealand as the country grapples with what Netsafe calls a 25 per cent increase in complaints about harmful content over the past year.
It has drawn criticism from InternetNZ and Tohatoha. One of the criticisms is that the Code is very much a work in progress. This cannot be seen as a problem. Any attempt to address harmful content on digital platforms in a dynamic and everchanging environment such as the Internet must be a continuing and developing task that organically morphs to deal with changes in the digital and content ecosystem.
However, there are other concerns surrounding the development of the Safety Code and the way in which it is to be funded and administered, the most concerning being what seems to be a conflict of interest.
As to the development of the Safety Code the concern is that consultation and the process of development was limited. It was conducted primarily through the agency of Netsafe who co-ordinated the development process. Accordingly there seems to have been little input from other agencies such as Tohatoha and InternetNZ, at least until the first draft was released in February 2022. Civil society organisations nor community representatives were not engaged to the same extent. The view is that online safety must be developed with the community at the forefront. The perception is that there was a “coziness” between Netsafe (who will appoint the Administrator) and the corporates.
This criticism is directed primarily at the legitimacy of the Online Safety Code. It suggests quite properly that there should have been wider involvement of the Online Community from the outset rather than being consulted from time to time. The Code would have greater acceptance had it been developed from the ground up with deep involvement by the wider community. Doubtless there were consultations and certainly a draft of the Code was released in February 2022 but that was a call for comment of a developed proposal rather than seeking detailed input on the devising of the proposal itself.
There should have been a greater level of engagement with the wider community in the development of the proposal if only to ensure that there would be consensus on what was ultimately devised and a level of acceptance of the legitimacy of the Code. As matters stand, those who were not deeply involved will be able to stand on the side-lines and criticise as indeed organisations like Tohatoha and InternetNZ are already doing. Given that situation the legitimacy of the Code, at least as far as the wider community is concerned, is questionable.
Another of the criticisms is associated with that of legitimacy and is directed to what is perceived as a conflict of interest.
The key conflict of interest is that NetSafe would be taking funding from the very organisations it is set up to regulate. In addition, the big platforms know that there is a government media regulation review underway. The Code is perceived as an attempt to undermine what should be the public process of the media regulation review which is conducted by Government and any legislation emanating from such review would go through the Select Committee process and the scrutiny of parliament, the media and the general public. The perception is that in developing the review as essentially a non-Government process NetSafe is undermining democratic processes, in collusion with tech platforms.
This criticism has a number of difficulties. Taken to its logical conclusion, it suggests that any form of industry regulation must be government-led. This ignores the various industries and interests that have developed their own methodologies for regulating their own operations in the wider and more public sense. After all, who better to develop a regulatory system than those who have an intimate knowledge of what is to be regulated and who can devise something workable. Involving government would be to add layers of complexity and an absence of specialist knowledge.
But to be fair, this is not the first time that a review of media regulatory structures has been proposed. In 2011 the New Zealand Law Commission released an Issues Paper entitled “The News Media Meets ‘New Media’: Rights, Responsibilities and Regulation in the Digital Age”. This was in response to a Government request for a review of the legal and regulatory environment in which New Zealand’s news media and other communicators are operating in the digital era. After a lengthy consultation period which was punctuated by a further paper recommending the enactment of Harmful Digital Communications legislation, in 2013 the final report was released.
What had happened over the lengthy consultation period was that those active in the digital space including mainstream media looked at the regulatory structures that were discussed by the Law Commission in the Issues Paper. There were existing regulatory bodies like the Advertising Standards Authority and the Press Council (which were industry funded and voluntary bodies) and the Broadcasting Standards Authority which was a Government Agency. There were no bodies that dealt specifically with the online space. It was clear to those involved in the dissemination of information online – mainstream media as well as bloggers and the alternative online media – that a regulatory model was on the way. To try and provide an alternative to a government led initiative the Online Media Standards Authority was set up. This was a private organisation, funded by the media itself. Membership was voluntary. It had a complaints process and the Tribunal hearing complaints was chaired by a retired High Court Judge. It dealt with complaints about online media on the same basis as the Press Council dealt with mainstream news organisations.
When the Law Commission report finally came out in 2013 it recommended a new converged standards body, folding the functions of the press council, the Broadcasting Standards Authority and the new formed Online Media Standards Authority (OMSA) into one standards body – the News Media Standards Authority or NMSA. This would be established to enforce standards across all publishers of news including linear and non-linear broadcasters, web publishers and the print media.
The NMSA and the regulatory model proposed by the Law Commission did not come to pass. As it happened OMSA recognised that in some respects its role was redundant, that there was a very low level of work for it and that it should merge with the Press Council which is what happened. The name of the new regulatory body – still voluntary, still funded by the media – is the New Zealand Media Council or NZMC. The members of the Council are drawn from a wide array and the Chair is the Hon Rayner Asher QC, a former High Court and Court of Appeal Judge.
This example demonstrates that there is nothing sinister in organisations establishing and funding their own regulatory structures, even when there is Government interest going on in the background. As I have suggested before, it is often preferable for an industry to regulate itself rather than submit to some “one size fits all” model proposed by Government.
This, then leads to some concerns that I have regarding the critique delivered by Tohatoha and endorsed by a number of other bodies including InternetNZ.
Tohatoha says
“In our view, this is a weak attempt to pre-empt regulation – in New Zealand and overseas – by promoting an industry-led model that avoids the real change and real accountability needed to protect communities, individuals and the health of our democracy, which is being subjected to enormous amounts of disinformation designed to increase hate and destroy social cohesion.”
The statement goes on to say
“We badly need regulation of online content developed through a government-led process. Only government has the legitimacy and resourcing needed to bring together the diverse voices needed to develop a regulatory framework that protects the rights of internet users, including freedom of expression and freedom from hate and harassment.”[1]
These statements must give cause for concern. The first concern is that it suggests that there should be regulation of content on the Internet. The second concern is that this should be through a government-led process. I have already commented on the problems that Government brings to the table in the field of regulation. For Government to be involved in the regulation of news media or indeed any medium that involves the communication of ideas is something that requires a great deal of care. Already Government is involved in a number of areas, such as the enactment of the Films, Videos and Publications Classification Act and the Harmful Digital Communications Act. In addition there is Government involvement in the broadcasting spectrum surrounding the licensing of frequencies under the Radicommunications Act 1989 (and regulations made thereunder) the Telecommunications Act 2001 and the Broadcasting Act 1989.
It seems to me that Tohatoha has overemphasized its advocacy role and overlooked the implications of what it is suggesting. It is clear that by suggesting regulation of content it means a form of control of content. There is another word for this and it is censorship. That a government should lead such regulatory (censorship) process is of even more concern.
Censorship has always been on the side of authoritarianism, conformity, ignorance and the status quo. Advocates for free speech have always been on the side of making societies more democratic, more diverse, more tolerant, more educated and more open to progress.[2]
Finally there is a concern about a loss of social cohesion. By this term what is really meant is a form of coerced conformity and as John Stuart Mill recognized, the most dire threat to freedom comes from social conformity which leads to a shortage of diversity – of inclination, interest, talent and opinion and makes eccentricity a reproach.
[1] https://www.tohatoha.org.nz/2022/07/statement-on-the-release-of-the-aotearoa-code-of-practice-for-online-safety-and-harms/
[2] Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman Free Speech on Campus (Yale University Press 2017) p. 27.