Victoria announces new social media ‘demasking’ powers for accounts accused of vilification

Ah, Victoria's Labor government, fresh from unveiling 'world-first' AI standards that we covered last week, now proposes laws to unmask anonymous social media accounts accused of vilification. The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal—because nothing says 'swift justice' like a tribunal—will get the power to order platforms to cough up identities. Because the real problem with online hate is definitely a lack of paperwork, not the platforms' utter inability to enforce their own rules without a court order. And of course, 'AI platforms' are included, because what's a modern law without name-dropping the buzzword of the month?

Let's be honest: this is performative regulation at its finest. The law targets 'vilification'—a term so vague it could cover anything from genuine abuse to a strongly worded opinion about the football. The tribunal will deliberate, platforms will lawyer up, and in the meantime, the anonymous bigots will have plenty of time to find a VPN. Meanwhile, the same government that wants to 'identify' anonymous accounts also wants to 'regulate' AI with standards that have all the enforcement power of a strongly worded letter. Consistency is clearly not on the agenda.

The real kicker? This won't actually make anyone safer. It'll just create a new cottage industry of privacy lawyers and tribunal hearings. The platforms will comply grudgingly, revealing the identities of a few unlucky trolls while the clever ones move to encrypted apps. It's the classic regulatory move: look busy, achieve little, and hope the voters don't notice you've done nothing about the actual problem—the algorithms that amplify outrage. But hey, at least the tribunal will have job security.