Three things are required for Australia's democracy to be manipulated via social media: means, motive, and opportunity. The means (the online tools, including bots) are readily available and the opportunity (the social networks themselves) are ubiquitous and popular.
These are practically impossible to police. Recent amendments to the Electoral and Other Legislation Bill extend existing laws related to electoral matter (material designed to influence elections) to include online and social media. These now require authors of social media posts to be identified to prevent astroturfing. The Parliamentary Library digest on this Bill notes the difficulty in enforcing this.
Presently, there's little prospect of preventing anyone with even a limited budget or skillset from attempting to manipulate politics via social media. The US-based Council on Foreign Relations is more optimistic but some of its recommended solutions, such as making government responses 'as interesting as the fake news they are countering', read like wishful thinking.
In short, as it stands, there are few limits on means and plenty of opportunities.
This leaves motive. Who would be interested in covertly exerting influence over Australian politics?
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/Damien Spry is a digital diplomacy researcher and consultant based in Hong Kong, previously in Seoul. He holds honorary positions at the University of Hong Kong, Bond University, the University of Sydney and the Centre for Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California. His recent publications include research on Australia’s image in South Korean online news and on soft power in East and South East Asia. Inquiries about his research should be directed to: [email protected].Linkback:
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