Police Powers Over Speech Platforms

The Authority can exercise police investigative powers over ICT service providers, including platforms and services that facilitate expression, without explicit content-neutrality safeguards. Section 71(3) delegates powers under the Criminal and Other Offences (Procedure) Act to Authority officers, enabling police-like investigations of content platforms, news websites, and communications services. Combined with restraint orders that can shut down providers for license breaches (section 71(1)(d)) and 72's license revocation powers, this creates enforcement pathways that could target speech-facilitating services without the heightened procedural protections typically required for content-related enforcement. The provision lacks explicit prohibitions on content-based investigations or requirements that enforcement actions affecting expression be content-neutral and subject to strict necessity testing.