PM at the ready to stand up to tech giants Google, Facebook
Scott Morrison is hoping for a win in his brewing fight with Facebook and Google that will reverse his poll slide and show that his party can stand up for the little guy, writes Anna Caldwell
SCOTT Morrison has picked a fight even bigger than his current foes of Bill Shorten and sagging poll numbers.
And what’s at stake is nothing smaller, really, than the question of who controls the future and all the information in it: individual Australians, or hi-tech behemoths like Google and Facebook who, from their Silicon Valley headquarters, have the power to shape the news, move markets, and even influence elections.
While the battle is a big one, it is also a smart choice for a PM who needs to reset the narrative around his leadership and party.
By painting a target on billion-dollar corporations and claiming to stand up for ordinary Australians who feel increasingly beleaguered by the intrusive and downright creepy behaviour of the tech giants, Morrison could create a counter-narrative to some of his party’s big-end-of-town image.
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The Prime Minister may even manage to defuse some of Labor’s attack lines — which dogged Malcolm Turnbull before Morrison — about what they say is the Liberals’ too-cozy relationship with, as Shorten never tires of reminding anyone who will listen, “the big end of town”.
This week Morrison told me in an interview that he was going to put the tech giants on notice, saying “governments, countries, prime ministers (and) treasurers have to stand up to these guys and say you’re very welcome here but you don’t get to come with a leave pass”.
In no uncertain terms, Morrison says, “if they’re not serving people I will step in”.
Morrison is conscious that muscling up against big companies rubs some of his Liberal colleagues the wrong way.
But Morrison was at pains to point out to me that he was not taking an anti-Liberal position. Rather, he believes that “over time the balance has shifted more and more in favour of the big companies”.
“I’m not going to get intimidated when they say ‘You’re not a real Liberal and you just want to introduce more regulations on companies’,” he says.
Morrison added that it was only when governments stood up to behemoths like banks and electricity companies that they made better offers. The same must be assumed of tech companies, who use our data and our lives as their own money-making devices.
If we expect the tech giants to treat customers and business in our country fairly we must stand up to them. And this needs to be a political solution.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s landmark preliminary report into the local operations of Facebook and Google has been a good start.
One of the agency’s key proposals is for closer scrutiny by a government agency. The final ACCC report is not due until June 3 — after the Federal election. But if he wants to take on this fight, Morrison will have to take steps sooner than that.
Strategists close to Morrison see the impact of Facebook and Google as a problem that seeps into households, families and businesses across the country.
It may not feel like a bread-and-butter political issue, but, in fact, the creep of tech giants in modern Australia transcends class, culture and geography.
If the government can sell the battle right — a challenge in itself — a war with tech titans could be a topic that speaks to everyday mums and dads who moan that “Facebook is listening to them” and taunting them with ads.
It’s certainly a topic that speaks to small businesses who are edged out by algorithms they can’t conquer.
And it’s a topic that speaks to simply anyone who is affronted by international companies making money out of Australians’ data and operating on their own rules with no transparency.
Morrison’s team is conscious of this.
I’ve been told the PM is also planning to put greater focus on the safety of children on these online sites in coming months.
Those close to Morrison remark that he is a decisive and fast-acting Prime Minister — a man who wants to get things done.
In recent weeks alone that has been evident as he tackled the seemingly gargantuan problem of the revolving door of leaders in his own party, in a generational shift that will change how the Liberals back a leader.
In the final week of parliament he also secured the passage of major encryption laws that also upset the big tech companies, and the big stick energy divestment legislation.
We don’t know yet if this get-stuff-done approach will ever translate in the polls.
But the simple fact that Morrison may only have months left in the job is spurring him to not waste a second.
Morrison is right to put the tech companies on notice. And with time ticking he should stick to his playbook and take action against them sooner rather than later.
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