Twitter, Snapchat warns government off undermining online anonymity – Sydney Morning Herald

Social media giants Twitter and Snapchat are defending anonymity online as lawmakers and bureaucrats work on a series of proposed laws that would force Australians to verify their age before using many of the most popular sites on the internet.While the laws planned by the government would not require users to post their real names, Snapchat’s parent company is concerned technology giants would effectively be forced to keep copies of users’ IDs and contact information to meet planned age verification rules.Snapchat, which has undergone a recent revival, counts about 5 million users in Australia.Credit:Bloomberg“Several of the measures which the government is currently proposing to introduce seem designed to end the right to anonymity online,” Snap said in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into online safety.It argues an erosion of anonymity could hurt people who use it to protect themselves online, from survivors of domestic violence to Australians critical of repressive foreign regimes that target dissidents abroad.Twitter argues that anonymity alone does not lead to abuse online. “In many cases people post harassing, toxic replies under their real name, with a photo of their real face,” the company said in its submission. And a digital identification policy, it warned, could…
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