Minister for Government Services, Bill Wells, has defended the use of ‘sock puppet’ accounts, which she explained are fake undercover accounts used by researchers and the eSafety commissioner.
Wells stated that these accounts are necessary for testing how tech companies comply with laws and for gathering evidence. She clarified that these provisions would make the use of such accounts lawful and their collected evidence usable, citing an example where researchers used them to investigate responses to complaints about eating disorder content, revealing significant variations in platform responses.
Responding to claims that these legally protected accounts could be used to spread disinformation, Wells asserted that this is not the case. She explained that the provision was included at the request of eSafety and accredited researchers who currently operate outside Australia due to a lack of legal protection, enabling them to conduct important work and use gathered evidence for compliance and enforcement purposes within Australia.
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Source: theguardian.com
