I INTRODUCTION   The Australian government has recently introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2020 (Bill). The Bill establishes a mandatory code of conduct (Code) to counteract the bargaining power imbalance apparent between digital platform corporations and Australian news businesses and corporations. The Bill is the result of the government’s further steps in response to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Digital Platform Inquiry in July 2019 (which highlighted power imbalance concerns)[1] and is meant ‘to support the sustainability of the Australian News sector.’[2] Key parts of the Code How the Code attempts to create a...

A New App to Track a Virus? The Australian Federal Government recently announced its plans to launch a phone app which would enable it to track the spread of COVID-19 by collecting user metadata. Likely, the app would be similar to that currently be used by the government in Singapore. Singapore’s app, TraceTogether, records ‘digital handshakes’ between devices, tracking individuals who have had the virus and those they may have come into contact with it. This ideally allows the Health Authorities to get ahead of further spread of the virus. However, the app in Singapore is still in some stages of infancy,...

On the back of Greta Thunberg’s ascension to Time’s ‘Person of the Year’, the ever pervading divisiveness surrounding climate change found a new battle ground, Australia’s bushfire crisis. Proponents of climate change viewed the crisis as further evidence that climate change is real and should be a global concern. However, soon enough, posts began popping up on social media feeds spreading the word that such proponents were overreacting. It was said that the crisis was in fact caused by the concerted efforts of a string of arsons across the country, evidenced by about 180 arrests.[1] What was the motivation of...