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Reasonable steps in digital platform regulation: what is reasonable and to whom?
The concept of ‘reasonable steps’ is embedded throughout Australian digital platform regulation. Yet, despite being a widespread concept in the digital regulatory framework, determining what is or is …
The breadth of AI risks across Australia; why we need a considered approach to regulation
This paper is a ‘thought piece’ that offers insights into eight broad areas of concern regarding AI. It is not intended as an anti-AI paper, but rather as a provocation to remind us that as we …
Transparency Report 2024
It’s customary in the nonprofit game to release a glitzy document bragging about the year’s activities and making big claims about the impact. We did a relatively modest version of this for 2023 and …
Where to for protected digital disclosures in Australia?
This document is a read-out from a closed-door discussion on public accountability and tech whistleblowing. It is presented as a summary of early policy thinking, representing perspectives from tech …
Welcoming the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024
Reset Tech Australia celebrates the passage of the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024. This is a vital first step in a long journey towards better privacy protections and data security …
5 Necessary Elements for Digital Platform Regulation
This report draws on previous thinking about the five elements of tech regulation that would be necessary to achieve effective, comprehensive digital regulation in Australia, building on this to …
Welcoming a digital duty of care
Welcoming a digital duty of care Reset Tech Australia celebrates the announcement from Minister Rowland that the Albanese Government will develop and legislate a Digital Duty of Care, to place the …
Does digital co-regulation function in children’s best interests?
This policy briefing reflects discussions held at a roundtable of 13 experts from academia and civil society in October 2024, where we explored the specific outcomes of digital co-regulation on …
Open letter about 'social media bans'
The Australian Child Rights Taskforce has released an open-letter signed by over 100 Australian academics, 20 world-leading international experts, and 20 Australian civil society organisations …
Any Buyer Accepted: Unregulated data markets create personal security risks
The way data is collected and used for most advertising online — called the Real-Time Bidding (RTB) process — sees deeply sensitive data about Australians shown to and shared with unknown parties …
Misinformation and disinformation will not be combatted with industry codes
This briefing has been prepared in anticipation for the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024. Reset.Tech Australia supports enhanced regulatory …
Welcoming a children's privacy code
Reset.Tech Australia welcomes the Government’s introduction of privacy reforms and specifically the commitment to a Children’s Privacy Code. The successful campaign for a Children’s Privacy Code has …
Report: Australians Worried About Privacy Risks, Strongly Support Privacy Reforms
Reset Tech Australia worked with YouGov in July 2024 to poll over 1500 Australian voters. They were asked a range of questions about digital regulation, in the context of anticipated reforms to the …
Protecting teenagers in the digital world or prohibiting them from it?
By Rys Farthing, Director of Policy & Research The realisation that something is ‘wrong’ when it comes to young people and social media is now relatively widespread. From detailed research …
Submission: Online Safety Act Statutory Review
Overall, Reset Tech Australia warmly welcomes the review of the OSA, including: The comprehensive nature of the review, and the commitment to ensuring an effective, future proofed regulatory …
Achieving Digital Platform Public Transparency in Australia
As the momentum to regulate digital platforms in Australia intensifies, two words continue to circulate: transparency and accountability. These are vital and inseparable elements in a digital …
Statement on the Basic Online Safety Expectations Determination
Reset Tech Australia welcomes the Online Safety (Basic Online Safety Expectations) Amendment Determination 2024 (‘BOSE’) as a necessary addition to the online safety regulatory framework. We are …
Research paper: 4th Annual Research Symposium
Reset Tech Australia presented their plans for ongoing research in collaboration with the Ministry for Education, at the Antigua & Barbuda 4th Annual Research Symposium. This paper summarises the …
Report: Functioning or Failing? An evaluation of the efficacy of the Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation
This report summarises extensive experimental research and advocacy over 2023 and 2024. It explores how both digital platforms’ systems and Australia’s voluntary regulatory framework are not ‘fit for …
Green Paper: Digital Platform Regulation
This paper is designed to provide a briefing for public interest organisations around recent movements on, and opportunities, for digital regulation in Australia. It lays out Reset Tech’s perspectives …
Briefing: A Duty of Care in Australia's Online Safety Act
This policy briefing reflects discussions held at a roundtable of 21 experts from academia and civil society in March 2024, where we explored the opportunities and challenges of introducing a duty of …
Statement on our complaint against Meta
Note: This statement was updated on the 16th April following a request from DIGI to make explicit that the complaints sub-committee made the decision and is “independent” from DIGI. DIGI would also …
Briefing: Transparency Reports in Australia
This policy briefing reflects discussions held at a roundtable of 20 experts from academia and civil society in March 2024, where we explored the opportunities and challenges to regulate for …
Who are DIGI Transparency Reports for?
In November of 2023, we wrote to Meta’s Australian office with our concerns about a statement in their last Transparency Report. We asserted that Meta made a potentially misleading statement about …
Report: Not Just Algorithms
Many of the systems and elements that platforms build into their products create safety risks for end-users. However, only a very modest selection have been identified for regulatory scrutiny. As the …
Youth Radicalisation on YouTube Shorts: a live experiment
Youth Radicalisation on YouTube Shorts: a live experiment Aruna Anderson, Rys Farthing, & Alice Dawkins Reset Tech Australia was recently invited to present research to a Ministerial Summit on youth …
Response to the Basic Online Safety Expectations consultation
Reset Tech Australia submitted to the Government’s consultation regarding the Basic Online Safety Expectations in the Online Safety Act. Our submission provides general feedback on Australia’s online …
Briefing: Can safety standards be enforceable?
This policy briefing reflects discussions from a roundtable of 22 policy experts on January 25th 2024. The event was held under the Chatham House Rule. The discussion was prompted by proposals put …
Best Interests and Targeting: Implementing the Privacy Act Review to advance children's rights
This paper explores the proposal of prohibiting targeting towards children unless it is in their best interests (Proposal 20.6 of the Privacy Act Review Report). It aims to contribute to the emerging …
2023 Annual Report
We’re delighted to share our highlights from 2023. Here’s a preview of our significant achievements: Launched the first-ever complaint under the Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and …
Online Safety Standards
On Dec 13 2023, Reset Tech Australia and the Alannah and Madeline Foundation participated in the consultation regarding the development of the Industry Standards for Class 1A & 1B Material for …
Statement on the Government Response to ACCC Digital Platform Services Inquiry
Reset Tech Australia is delighted to see Government support today for the ACCC’s recommendations. A brave and bold digital competition regime that works for Australians needs to be cognisant of the …
Report "Australians for Sale: Targeted Advertising, Data Brokering and Consumer Manipulation"
This report documents the nature of some of the more troubling consumer manipulation practices currently occurring in Australia. It explores how targeted advertising affects people who gamble, consume …
Animation: Targeted advertising and data brokering
Explore the dark reality of Fatima’s world, which is distorted on a daily basis by routine practices of data extraction and targeted advertising.
Statement on removal of X's signatory status
Reset Tech Australia welcomes the decision of the Complaints Sub-Committee to revoke the signatory status of X, formerly known as Twitter, from the Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and …
Policy briefing: Misinformation and disinformation regulatory frameworks
This report summarises a policy roundtable held with 15 experts, unpacking legislative and regulatory interventions around misinformation and disinformation in the context of the Combatting …
Briefing: Prohibiting targeting to children and children’s best interests: Can the two coexist?
The proposal in the Privacy Act Review is to prohibit targeting to a child, with an exception for targeting that is in the child’s best interests. This is consistent with an emerging trend to apply …
Report: Is political content over- or under-moderated?
Content moderation on social media can result in the removal, demotion or labelling of content that platforms deem to have violated their rules. Moderation is an important tool in mitigating systemic …
Report: Recommender Systems and Political Content
Digital platforms are shaping the landscape of Australian political discourse. While significant attention is rightly paid to how platforms influence political discourse through content moderation and …
Open Letter to X
Dear Mr Keene, Re: Concern that recent changes to your user-reporting systems may have left Australian users unable to report electoral misinformation weeks away from a referendum We write to report …
Report: Misinformation in paid-for advertising
There are significant gaps in Australia’s regulatory framework when it comes to electoral misinformation and disinformation served through paid-for advertising. This creates notable vulnerabilities in …
Briefing: Targeted advertising and profiling in the Privacy Act Review - Are we going far enough?
This policy briefing reflects discussions held in a roundtable of 16 policy experts around privacy, human rights and consumer law on the 4th September 2023. The event was held under Chatham House …
Report: Intrusive and Unhelpful - Targeted Advertising in Australia
Targeted advertising—known elsewhere as behavioural advertising, personalised advertising, or surveillance advertising—is in the crosshairs of Australian lawmakers. Draft legislation is expected from …
Report: Electoral process misinformation
This rapid investigation set out to explore whether platforms remove electoral process misinformation when they are made aware of it via user-reporting. We found, reported and monitored a small number …
Response to the Safe and Responsible AI in Australia discussion paper
Reset Tech Australia submitted to the Government’s consultation on safe and responsible AI. Our submission provided general feedback to the proposed framework, and responses to the following …
Report: Realising young people’s rights in the digital environment
Young people hold nuanced and sophisticated understandings about what privacy means in a digital context. They see online privacy as a right, but a right that is frequently and routinely violated. …
Capacity of the consent model online
In May 2023, Reset Tech hosted an expert roundtable discussion unpacking the capacity of the consent model to improve the digital world. We explored both the principles underpinning of the consent …
Young people's submission to the inquiry into international platforms
Reset Tech Australia supported a group of young people to draft their own submission to Senate Standing Committee on Economics’ Inquiry into the Influence of Digital Platforms, with regards to the use …
Presentation to the Senate Inquiry into the Administration of the Voice
In May 2023, Reset Tech Australia was invited to give evidence to the Senate Inquiry into the Administration of the referendum into an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. We have included a …
Response to Privacy Act Review Report
On 16 February 2023, the Attorney-General publicly released the Privacy Act Review Report. The Privacy Act Review Report was informed by feedback received in response to an Issues Paper released in …
Address to Tech Policy Futures
On the 28th March 2023, Reset Tech was invited to present at the Tech Policy Futures forum at Parliament House, speaking alongside regulators, Members of Parliament, and industry leaders. Good …
Submission to the Inquiry into International Digital Platforms Operated by Big Tech companies
In February 2023, the Senate Economic Reference Committee called for submissions to an inquiry on international, digital platforms operated by ‘Big Tech’ companies. Reset Tech Australia’s response …
How outdated approaches to regulation harm children and young people and why Australia urgently needs to pivot
Australia should be the safest place in the world to go online, but it is not. Australia’s reliance on self- and co-regulation has played a big part in this failure. ‘Co-regulation’ allows industry to …
Better data and privacy regulation needed to protect Australian students from unsafe and intrusive 'education' apps
New research from Human Rights Watch has demonstrated the need for new Government commitments to improving online protections and privacy for young people. The research explores the EdTech apps and …
Response to Meta: Safeguarding the integrity of our Federal election
On 2 May 2022, in collaboration with leading academics with expertise in mis- and disinformation, cyber abuse, and other online harms, Reset Tech Australia sent Meta an open letter with 24 questions …
Briefing: How Meta Extorted Australia
This briefing highlights key details of whistleblower revelations about Facebook’s unprecedented tactical response to the development of Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code in February 2021, and …
When Big Tech extorts democracies, it’s time for tougher regulations
Following today’s shocking revelations about the behaviour of Facebook during negotiations of the News Media Bargaining Code, Reset Tech Australia is calling for a radical overhaul of Big Tech …
The future of digital regulation in Australia: Five policy principles for a safer digital world
As Australia implements much needed digital regulation on a number of issues, there is a need to ensure policy initiatives are joined up and coherent. To avoid creating inconsistencies and gaps, and …
Australia's News Media Bargaining Code: Missed Opportunities
Executive Summary: The News Media and Digital Platform Mandatory Bargaining Code (the ‘Code’) was a world-first introduction of laws compelling digital platforms to pay publishers hosting their …
Open letter to Meta: 24 questions about safeguarding the integrity of our Federal election
The 2022 Federal Election is now underway. It is imperative that Australian democracy is protected from mis- and disinformation and hate speech that polarises and divides our communities, and alters …
Algorithms as a weapon against women: How YouTube lures boys and young men into the ‘Manosphere’
Executive Summary This research documents how YouTube’s algorithms contribute to promoting misogynistic, anti-feminist and other extremist content to Australian boys and young men. Using experimental …
Designing for Disorder: Algorithms amplify pro-anorexia content to teens and children as young at 10
Reset Tech Australia has again highlighted the need for the introduction of a Privacy Code for children and teens after Instagram is caught promoting and profiting from underage eating disorder …
Meta (Facebook) still approving ads with explicit disinformation as election campaigning ramps up
Introduction Disinformation has fundamentally altered the functioning of our public square and our democracy. Increasingly, fair and factual debate is a rarity. The spread of information intended to …
Submission: Response to the Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill
The recent High Court case Fairfax Media Publications vs Voller has created considerable uncertainty for Australian social media users and we welcome a legislative response to this. The Social Media …
Facebook still misusing young people's data
Facebook claimed to no longer be using young people’s data to target them with ads, but was caught still harvesting teenagers’ data to serve them stalker ads. In April, a report by Reset Tech …
The root cause of online hate is the business model of Big Tech
Social media can be a toxic place. Pinning anonymity as the problem, our Prime Minister went on the record saying social media was ‘filled with cowards who go anonymously onto social media and vilify …
What young people think about privacy
New polling, which reveals for the first time what kind of data protection Australian teenagers want to see, comes in anticipation of the government’s own review of the Privacy Act. Key findings from …
Surveilling young people online: An investigation into TikTok’s data processing practices
This report explores TikTok’s data collection and use practices, as an example of how social media handles children’s data. It explores the consent and sign up process for children and young people, …
Facebook must act on algorithms pushing people towards anti-vaxx misinformation
Reset Tech Australia is demanding greater transparency about how Facebook’s algorithms work, as a new report shows users are still being pushed towards anti-vaccination and COVID-19 misinformation on …
Did we really consent to this? Terms and conditions & young people’s data
This report describes how young people experience the sign-up process and terms and conditions of some popular digital platforms. While they are easy to skip over, terms and conditions (T&Cs) are …
Social media ‘dark patterns’ nudging Australian kids into shady data harvesting
Apps popular with kids, including the likes of Tik Tok, Instagram, and Snapchat, have such confusing terms of use that users need a university degree to understand what they’re signing up to, a new …
Profiling Children for Advertising: Facebook’s Monetisation of Young People’s Personal Data
This report explores how social media platforms profile young people for advertising purposes, and highlights how out of step with community expectations this practice is. Previous research has shown …
Submission to the ACCC AdTech Inquiry
Reset Tech Australia would like to thank the Australian Competition and Consumer Commision (ACCC) for the opportunity to input into the Digital advertising services inquiry Interim Report. We commend …
Big Tech's 'Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation’ is both pointless and shameless
The code of practice launched by the Digital Industry Group (DIGI) today is pointless and should be replaced by an independent public regulator with the power to inspect and audit algorithms, …