Avoid fakery with a Swift exit to Australia

When social media was flooded with fake pornographic images of Taylor Swift the billionaire singing superstar didn’t need lawyers and fans to take on the internet.

She just needed to be in Australia. It’s astonishing to think Australia would even register in Swift’s gigantic empire, but thanks to having a worldleading online safety regulator it turns out that we actually are the place to be.

Early in January Swift started trending worldwide for all the wrong reasons. Realistic AI-generated “deepfake” pornographic images of the 34-year-old were being viewed millions of times on social media.

This outrage kicked the Swifties into action. Legions of fans shared innocuous images and posts strategically hashtagged to drown out the deepfakes.

Eventually social media site X banned search terms associated with Swift’s name to prevent people looking for the AI images.

The singer was reportedly considering legal options, but had she been in Australia another avenue would have been available.

Swift, like anyone else in Australia, could have logged on to esafety.gov.au and lodged a complaint asking for the material to be taken down.

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has the authority to request both perpetrators and platforms take down harmful content within 24 hours or face penalties, including big fines.

In fact the Commissioner has about a 90 per cent success rate in getting material taken down.

Whether the Commissioner could have dealt with the scale of Swift’s assault is another question, but to date the complaints system has proven to be effective.

The federal government’s biggest current challenge now is making sure people know the help is available.

Enter Taylor Swift. The fury of Swifties and casual fans has launched some very important conversations about just what responsibilities tech giants have to consumers.

Australia has become an unlikely global leader in the murky world of internet ethics in recent years.

From forcing major platforms to pay a fair amount for news to safeguarding dating apps, the nation has not shied away from fights with huge companies.

Figuring out how to protect us from the harms of AI while not missing out on the potential benefits of the technology is only the next battle.

So as Swift fever sweeps the nation ahead of her highly anticipated arrival on our shores, this is perhaps the most important inadvertent teaching moment of what is sure to be a very hectic month of sold-out cowboy hats and friendship bracelets.