Author: Daniel Angus, Professor of Digital Communication, Director of QUT Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology

The federal government this week introduced a new bill into parliament aimed at cracking down on the spread of misinformation and disinformation on the internet. The government also this week announced plans to ban young people from social media platforms and improve privacy protections. These moves have been criticised by experts, who say bans are ineffective, and privacy reforms fall short of what is required in the digital age. The government published a draft of the new misinformation and disinformation bill last year for public consultation. It received more more than 24,000 responses (including from my colleagues and me). The…