ATTORNEY-GENERAL Michael Atkinson will move immediately to repeal controversial laws which sparked an outcry over censorship of the internet.

After backing down late last night to say the laws would not be put into effect, Mr Atkinson told reporters he would follow the advice of Opposition legal affairs spokeswoman Vickie Chapman and use a section of the Electoral Act to immediately repeal the section.

Earlier, Mr Atkinson said it would be repealed but could not do it until after the election and had promised that no action would be taken against internet users during the election campaign.

But after comments from Ms Chapman that it could be done, Mr Atkinson said he had decided to act immediately and paid tribute to Ms Chapman for her suggestion.

Mr Atkinson was continuing to accept full responsibility for the furore today saying he was embarrassed but he would not stand down from Cabinet "unless Vickie Chapman stands down with me''.

He said she had been fully aware of the provisions of the Bill when it passed through Parliament last year.

"This law was supported by all 69 MPs of Parliament and some of them are now running away from it faster than others,'' Mr Atkinson.

"I have come here today to say we listened to what people of the blogging generation had to say and we changed our policy accordingly.''

Mr Atkinson said he had not been told by Premier Mike Rann to change the policy which has sparked outrage from media organisations, including The Advertiser and AdelaideNow, and civil liberties groups across Australia.

He said he had rung the Premier last night and said while most South Australians supported honesty and integrity in accountability during election campaigns, there was an up and coming generation of young people who had grown up with the right to say "pretty much anything on blog sites'' without constraints and that was a right they were going to cling to very fiercely.

"It would not be effective to continue to resist them,'' Mr Atkinson said.

How Atkinson backflipped

After a furious reaction on AdelaideNow to The Advertiser's exclusive report on the new laws, Mr Atkinson at 10pm last night released this statement: "From the feedback we've received through AdelaideNow, the blogging generation believes that the law supported by all MPs and all political parties is unduly restrictive. I have listened.

"I will immediately after the election move to repeal the law retrospectively."

Mr Atkinson said the law would not be enforced for comments posted on AdelaideNow during the upcoming election campaign, even though it was technically applicable.

"It may be humiliating for me, but that's politics in a democracy and I'll take my lumps," he continued in the statement.

"This way, no one need fear now that they are being censored on the net or in blogs, whether they blog under their own name or anonymously. The law will be repealed retrospectively.

"I call upon all the other political parties who supported this review to also review their position."

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The extraordinary backdown followed Mr Atkinson's flawed defence of the law on radio 5AA earlier in the day.

He said the new law was necessary because people such as Aaron Fornarino, who regularly posts comments on AdelaideNow, were Liberal Party plants. But Mr Fornarino does exist. He lives in a flat on Port Rd, 500m from Mr Atkinson's electorate office.

After the backdown was revealed on AdelaideNow last night, Premier Mike Rann posted three Twitter messages: "AG has listened. So no debate will be stifled. No political censorship of blogs or online comments whether named or anon."

"All MPs and all parties voted for Electoral law. Hope Libs, Greens, Family First, Independents etc will join us to support repeal."

"For many young people, and even the not so young, internet is their parliament of ideas and information.''

Originally published as Atkinson won't quit after censorship backflip