‘Social media giants profit from evil’: Michael Miller addresses National Press Club of Australia

In just one generation, we have gone from magic to madness argues News Corp Australasia Executive Chairman Michael Miller, who is calling on Australia to impose a ‘social licence’ to force Tech monopolies to play by Australian rules.

News Corp Australasia Executive Chairman Michael Miller addresses the National Press Club of Australia. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Tech monopolies — especially social media networks such as Meta, TikTok and X — choose to operate outside our legal system.

In the space of just one generation, we have gone from magic to madness.

Remember when we first discovered search — when we learned we could find out anything we wanted to know at the click of a button? Remember when our phones became smart? When we started sharing photographs and memories? Remember our first video calls with family we hadn’t seen for years?

This was before online scams and blackmail, before cyberbullying and revenge porn; before doxing and trolling, deep fakes and conspiracies; the surveillance economy and political interference; before terrorists live-streamed massacres; and sites celebrated anorexia as a glamorous lifestyle; before the epidemic of loneliness and anxiety; before the algorithms turned us into addicts.

Michael Miller, Executive Chairman of News Corp Australasia, addresses the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra on "Australia and Global Tech: time for a reset". Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Recent research in Australia asked three thousand social media users about their digital lives and attitudes. Seven out of every 10 said they or someone they know had first hand experience of negative issues on social media.

For teenagers the number is even higher. There is no doubt our children are paying the price. And our economy is also. The National Anti-Scam Centre reports that Australians lost $2.7 billion to scams last year.

Misinformation and disinformation, designed to cause real harm are also leading people down dangerous algorithmic rabbit holes. West Australian Newspapers reported in March about the unprecedented explosion in online child sexual exploitation, with 32 million reports on major platforms each year.

And this is just the tip of a very large iceberg.

In the words of Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil: “Just about every problem that we have as a country is either being exacerbated or caused by social media, and we’re not seeing a skerrick of responsibility taken by these companies.”

So, why is this happening?

Because on social media, bad behaviour is good for business. The social media giants profit from evil videos, bullying, con artists, and glamorising eating disorders.

Seven out of every 10 Aussies said they or someone they know had first hand experience of negative issues on social media

The Tech monopolies including X choose to operate outside our legal system.

In the words of a British father who lost his child to suicide: “they monetise misery.”

In Meta’s case, according to a recent report in the UK’s Sunday Times Magazine, that profit is a staggering $US136 million every single day.

With Meta’s decision to walk away from its deal to pay Australian news companies for their content, our industry is in new territory once again.

After Meta had turned off the news in Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau commented that Meta were “prioritising profit over safety” when devastating wildfires forced tens of thousands to evacuate their homes without access to news.

Faced with that scenario playing out in Australia we can’t let ourselves be bullied.

Meta must be designated under the Media Bargaining Code and challenged to negotiate in good faith.

This current battle in my industry is part of a much larger struggle though, a struggle that will encompass and impact more industries and more people.

As a nation we must not blink now.

America has already given the tech industry the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free card when it gave Tech companies a blanket legal exemption from responsibility under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. It created a ‘Silicon Valley Sovereignty’ that now lets them get away with anything.

It’s time to stop asking for change and start demanding change.

The words Social Licence describe the permission companies have to operate within a society. The Tech Monopolies should also be made to pay a licence.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Picture: Sergei GAPON / AFP

Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil

The licence should insist that each platform has an effective consumer complaints handling system.

Other measures to be included in this licence should be:

The ex ante competition framework set out by the ACCC which would address the problem of the monopolised digital advertising markets.

A contribution to the money we are spending tackling mental health problems.

A requirement for tech platforms proven to be the media’s unavoidable trading partners would be to honour the Media Bargaining Code deals for larger publishers and to contribute to a fund for small publishers serving local communities.

And Penalties?

Penalties that include criminal sanctions for companies that agree to the licence, but then break the rules.

And ultimately the power to block access to our country and our people if they refuse to play by our rules.

Australians overwhelmingly say social media should play by the same rules as the rest of us, with 83 per cent agreeing that the Tech monopolies should be subject to Australian regulations and law.

It’s time for a digital environment that protects vulnerable people rather than preys on them.

It’s time to protect our children, our parents and our national identity.

It’s time the Tech monopolies played by Australian rules.

It’s time for a reset.

* This is an edited transcript of Michael Miller’s speech to the National Press Club.

Originally published as ‘Social media giants profit from evil’: Michael Miller addresses National Press Club of Australia