Northern Territory Numbered Acts Northern Territory Numbered ActsAfter section 276G
insert
(1) A person commits an offence if the person:
(a) publishes material on social media; and
(b) the material depicts conduct that constitutes an offence against:
(i) a provision of Part VI, Division 3A, 4, 5 or 5A; or
(ii) a provision of Part VII, Division 1 or 6; or
(iii) a provision prescribed by regulation; and
(c) the person publishes the material with the intention of any of the following:
(i) increasing the reputation or notoriety of a person who engaged in the conduct;
(ii) boasting of the conduct;
(iii) glorifying the conduct;
(iv) encouraging others to engage in the same or similar conduct.
Maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 2 years.
(2) Subsection (1)(c) is the fault element for the conduct in subsection (1)(a).
(3) Strict liability applies to subsection (1)(b).
(4) It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against subsection (1) if the material is:
(a) fictional; or
(b) published for a genuine academic, artistic, educational, journalistic, literary, satirical or scientific purpose; or
(c) published to inform the public of criminal conduct in order to:
(i) complain about the conduct; or
(ii) warn, notify or promote awareness of the conduct.
Examples for subsection (4)(c)
1 Residents posting videos of the conduct to document offences in their community.
2 Police posting videos warning against engaging in the conduct.
(5) A person may be proceeded against, and convicted of, an offence against subsection (1) whether or not anyone is charged or convicted of the offence mentioned in subsection (1)(b) depicted in the material.
(6) A person may be convicted of both an offence against subsection (1) and the offence mentioned in subsection (1)(b) depicted in the material.
(7) In this section:
"material" includes anything that contains data from which text, sound or images can be generated.
Examples for definition material
Digital photographs and videos.
"publish", in relation to material, means to make the material available to the public by electronic means.
"social media" means digital technology that allows the sharing of ideas and information, including text, sound and images, through virtual networks, virtual communities or any service for carrying communications by means of guided or unguided electromagnetic energy.
Examples for definition social media
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Telegram, TikTok, WhatsApp, YouTube and X (Twitter).
Note for definition social media
Social media is often located on the internet, including the dark web and the deep web.