Combatting disinformation online without removing content

The Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2024 was abandoned in late November 2024 as there was no clear pathway for the Bill to pass through the Senate. While government continues to pursue other proposals to address the issue, the spread of mis- and disinformation online continues to pose threats to the Australian community (deepfakes being an example of harmful content). While education campaigns and initiatives to support the development of digital literacy skills, media literacy skills and better awareness online continue to be important, this article asks what more can be done to tackle the spread of mis- and disinformation on digital platforms. In particular, this article considers a fact-checking and debunking initiative that operates in the European Union and whether a similar initiative could be adopted in Australia as an alternative measure to combatting mis- and disinformation on digital platforms.