This week, Labor introduced a draft of the Digital Duty of Care Bill.

They’re calling it that because “duty of care” sounds like a nice and good thing to do.

It’s also a name that hides what this Bill really does.

The truth is: it’s Labor’s Big Brother Bill.

It’s a desperate attempt from Anthony Albanese and Labor to control what you see online because they are upset with you for disagreeing with them.

The Bill itself hands over extraordinary powers to the Communications Minister – currently Anika Wells – and the eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant.

They get to define what is “harmful” content and punish social media platforms who don’t delete whatever they decide that content is.

In a farcical interview with Laura Jayes, Wells admitted it was up to her to decide what was harmful, and admitted even news websites will get caught by the laws.

Crucially, the punishment for harmful content is presumptive. Once Anika and Julie decide something is harmful, if a social media company censors it, the matter is over. It’s only if they choose to leave the content up that they get fined.

In other words, this Bill is designed to make social media companies censor first and ask questions later.

The draft Bill suggests what might constitute harmful content, and it’s so broad that pretty much anything Labor doesn’t like can become “harm”.

Question Net Zero? That’s harmful to the planet.

Don’t like Labor’s mass immigration regime? That’s hate speech. Harmful.

Mention that Albo’s stacked on a few kilos after becoming Prime Minister? That’s just mean and you can’t say that!

There’s even specific language about “women and gender equality” which is interesting because Labor changed the law so that now anyone can legally be a woman.

Now, Anika Wells insists political content is not the target here, and there is a level of truth to the fact that there is indeed harmful content online that can be damaging and dangerous, especially for kids.

But if protecting kids was your intention, you wouldn’t do it like this. Inserting such broad ministerial powers to define “harm” does not help kids.

And, in any case, do you really trust Labor to colour in the lines on this?

This is the party who tried, and failed, to introduce a Ministry of Truth because of their hallucinations about “misinformation”.

The party who fifteen years ago tried to introduce an internet filter to block content.

Censorship is in their DNA.

Whatever they say about not targeting political speech now, that attitude will not survive contact with Anika Wells seeing people talk about her extensive taxpayer funded travel.

The reason to oppose censorship like this is not because there is no such thing as dangerous content, it’s because you cannot trust the impulses of people with the power to do the censoring.

Don’t buy the Labor spin. Their Big Brother Bill is nothing less than an assault on free speech in this country. 

Sign the petition now to help stop Albo’s Big Brother Bill.