Strict Liability Chills Business Communications

Section 64(6) permits Stop Communication Directions to be issued against businesses "even if the person does not know or has no reason to believe that the information is false"—creating a strict liability regime for business communications. Combined with the undefined "substantially similar" standard in s.64(3), companies cannot predict what statements might trigger enforcement, forcing them to self-censor marketing, public relations, and stakeholder communications. Businesses must bear compliance costs for correction notices and newspaper publications (s.64(5)), creating financial barriers particularly burdensome for smaller enterprises and startups lacking legal resources to navigate this uncertainty.