{"id":1752272,"date":"2022-11-27T06:11:08","date_gmt":"2022-11-27T11:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1752272"},"modified":"2022-11-27T06:18:19","modified_gmt":"2022-11-27T11:18:19","slug":"australia-re-establish-committee-to-investigate-social-media-interventions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/australia-re-establish-committee-to-investigate-social-media-interventions\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia Re-establish Committee to Investigate Social Media Interventions"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Faustralia-re-establish-committee-to-investigate-social-media-interventions%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1752272&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Australia has decided to examine the risks posed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-social-media\">social media<\/a> applications, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-wechat\">WeChat<\/a> and TikTok, to the nation\u2019s democracy and security.<\/p>\n<p>Liberal Senator James Paterson, the Shadow Minister for Cyber Security and Countering Foreign Interference, said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.senatorpaterson.com.au\/senate\/media-statement-senate-select-committee-on-foreign-interference-through-social-media\">statement<\/a> on Nov. 24 that the Australian Senate had decided to re-establish the Select Committee on Foreign Interference Through Social Media to address the ongoing problems of social media, such as harassment and intimidation of dissidents and false propaganda.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe committee will examine the activities of social media applications headquartered in authoritarian countries, such as TikTok and WeChat, which pose a unique risk to the national security of Australia,\u201d reads the statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe committee will also examine the way social media companies headquartered in Western countries, such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, have been successfully weaponised by authoritarian states in an attempt to interfere in our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Both WeChat and TikTok are based in China, with TikTok coming under scrutiny recently after the company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/tiktok-admits-australian-user-data-accessible-in-china_4594672.html\">admitted<\/a> that its staff in China could access the data of overseas users.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4734889\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/09\/16\/20220905001698533153-original-min-1200x800.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-medium wp-image-4734889\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/20220905001698533153-original-min-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4734889\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/20220905001698533153-original-min-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Senator James Paterson of the centre-right Liberal Party before a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Sept. 5, 2022. (AAP Image\/Mick Tsikas)<\/figure>\n<p>The Australian Senate established a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aph.gov.au\/Parliamentary_Business\/Committees\/Senate\/Foreign_Interference_through_Social_Media\/ForeignInterference\">Select Committee<\/a> on Dec. 5, 2019, to investigate and report on the risks posed by foreign interference through social media. The Committee submitted an interim report on Dec. 17, 2021, and a progress report on April 21, 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The Select Committee was established during the former Morrison administration and lapsed due to the change of government after the 2022 federal election.<\/p>\n<p>Several examples of harassment and disinformation on social media were named in the statement, including recent reports from Iranian diaspora communities of targeted online harassment, Russian state-backed disinformation campaigns about the invasion of Ukraine, and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-aspi\">ASPI<\/a>)\u2019s research exposing intimidation of activists and journalists working on Chinese human rights issues.<\/p>\n<h2>CCP Trolls Harass Chinese Females on Social Media<\/h2>\n<p>Meanwhile, ASPI, Australia\u2019s government-funded defence and strategic think tank, released a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.org.au\/musks-twitter-takeover-comes-as-the-ccp-steps-up-its-targeting-of-smart-asian-women\/\">special report<\/a> on Nov. 6 that exposed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)\u2019s use of social media to launch a campaign of attacks, disinformation, and propaganda aimed at silencing a group of women who are outspoken critics of the communist regime, including ASPI researcher Vicky Xiuzhong Xu.<\/p>\n<p>Xu, who co-authored a major <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspi.org.au\/report\/uyghurs-sale\">report<\/a> in 2020 on human rights abuses in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-xinjiang\">Xinjiang<\/a>, has been attacked by the CCP across multiple platforms in China and globally for a long time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBetween 14 and 24 October, at least 199 [Twitter] accounts posted around 582 tweets mentioning her Chinese name, calling her a<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20221024051954\/https:\/twitter.com\/liangziyueqian3\/status\/1582924840863875072?s=46&#038;t=bV6jchGiea8E84jIs8glzw\">\u00a0traitor<\/a>\u00a0and making<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/xu_xiuzhong\/status\/1584376162234482688?s=46&#038;t=pojTUq5fg9umxEwjWi9ANQ\">\u00a0physical threats<\/a>,\u201d reads the ASPI report.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4507955\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/06\/02\/2022-06-02T093425Z_1_LYNXMPEI510B0_RTROPTP_4_CHINA-RIGHTS-PARLIAMENT-1200x800.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-medium wp-image-4507955\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/2022-06-02T093425Z_1_LYNXMPEI510B0_RTROPTP_4_CHINA-RIGHTS-PARLIAMENT-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"xinjiang\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4507955\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/2022-06-02T093425Z_1_LYNXMPEI510B0_RTROPTP_4_CHINA-RIGHTS-PARLIAMENT-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"xinjiang\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> A perimeter fence surrounds a forced reeducation centre in Dabancheng, Xinjiang region, China, on Sept. 4, 2018.(Thomas Peter\/Reuters)<\/figure>\n<p>Paterson condemned the CCP\u2019s harassment of Xu online.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis cyber-enabled foreign interference in our democracy, including through western social media platforms, is utterly unacceptable and must be stopped,\u201d he wrote in a Facebook post on Nov. 7.<\/p>\n<p>Another recent ASPI report exposed how the CCP uses <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/youtube-ads-are-funding-beijings-overseas-push-to-change-hearts-and-minds-report_4873567.html\">ethnic-minority influencers<\/a> for false propaganda to whitewash its human rights abuses.<\/p>\n<p>The Select Committee will seek evidence from experts, industry, and government agencies and recommend responses to mitigate risks to Australia\u2019s democracy and values, as well as international reactions to cyber-enabled foreign interference and misinformation.<\/p>\n<p>The Committee will present its final report by Aug. 1, 2023.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-epoch-times-sydney-staff\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/The-Eepoch-Times-Logo.png\" alt=\"Epoch Times Sydney Staff\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australia has decided to examine the risks posed by social media applications, including WeChat and TikTok, to the nation\u2019s democracy and security.Liberal Senator James Paterson, the Shadow Minister for Cyber<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1752275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1752272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1752272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1752275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1752272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1752272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1752272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}