
Repeal PECA
Almost the entirety of the 2025 Act is unconstitutional. Consider its two chief prohibitions: (i) creating a criminal offence for ‘fake’ and ‘false’ information (non-bailable); and (ii) prohibiting content that casts ‘aspersions’ against members of the state. These aim to prohibit what Article 19 (free speech) and 19A (free information) of our constitution expressly protect: criticism of state institutions.
Algorithms for Hate
Never before have terrorists had such an easy way to share their manifestos. The original video of the Christchurch terror spree was taken down within an hour of it being uploaded, but copies of it multiplied faster than Facebook could take them down. A hydra of violent content swept through different social media platforms as the world grappled with the new reality of viral terrorism. To get an idea of the scale of it all, consider this: Facebook announced that it had removed 1.5 million copies of the video. While at one point, a copy of the video was being posted on YouTube every second.