We might’ve suspected that Snapchat’s users were born yesterday, and wouldn’t be far off in the assumption, but what of it’s upper management?
How else could this multibillion-dollar tech corporation be silly enough, and arrogant enough, to deploy one of the oldest and saddest acts of political arse-covering ahead of a parliamentary grilling scheduled for Friday?
Let us explain.
Snapchat officials announced a fresh suite of measures on Wednesday to protect its teenage userbase from pedophiles and predation, just in time for a public hearing at which an official will be hauled into parliament for questioning. Well, he’ll appear via videolink, but it still won’t be pleasant.
Henry Turnbull, Snapchat’s head of public policy, is up before the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society and, from what we understand, he’s already in line for a right bollocking over Snapchat’s overrepresentation in crimes involving child abuse imagery, per reports out of the UK published last month.
Hence the blast of media coverage on Wednesday spruiking Snapchat’s enhancements to its internal warning systems, its location-sharing and blocking features – all of which are so bleedingly obvious and basic, and should have been in place already.
Cynical stuff, too, because we all know Turnbull’s opening statement – if he dares to provide one – will be replete with this 48-hour-old guff. If company officials thought this would go unnoticed by the committee itself then they’re dafter than we realised and would be better off sweeping up crumbs at the biscuit factory.
Committee members are already lining up Turnbull for a whacking over this hasty pretence of user protection, but we don’t expect he’ll be the only representative subjected to thumbscrews. Appearing, too, is Meta’s VP and global head of safety, Antigone Davis, TikTok’s director of public policy Ella Woods-Joyce and Google’s Lucinda Longcroft, director of government affairs and public policy.
All of whom are receiving external strategic advice: Meta’s retained Principle Advisory; Google’s engaged Pyne and Partners and TikTok’s signed Anacta. No such help for Snapchat, apparently, which might explain the foolishness.
Dutton’s early jump
Speaking of tactics, maybe it’s just a ploy to keep his people match-fit but we hear lieutenants in Peter Dutton’s office are going around telling Liberal MPs to prepare for a September election. Not that this seems likely. Australian Electoral Commission boundaries won’t be confirmed until October, which complicates everything. Still, that’s a Labor problem, or more specifically an Anthony Albanese problem. After all, it’s his election to call.
Sitting with the enemy
Teal MP Monique Ryan was supposed to be at the National Press Club on Wednesday for a speech by Professor David Thomas, a leading cancer care specialist. Nothing overly remarkable with that – maybe just one thing.
Ryan has led a vigorous campaign to hound lobbyists out of parliament, doing so in a vow to “clean up politics” and “strengthen democracy”.
And who had invited Ryan to be a star guest at their table? None other than those wily agents of influence at lobby shop CT Group.
Here’s Ryan on a website she set up to promote tightening disclosures around ministerial meetings with lobbyists: “Thousands of well-resourced lobbyists roam the halls in Canberra, secretly meeting with ministers to influence government policies so they favour vested interests, not the public interest.”
Previously she’s pointed out, quite accurately, that lobbyists are often ex-MPs and advisers who are hired “because they can use their connections to get in the door”.
No truck with that. But surely by now Ryan would know that not all lobbyists are as vile and scheming as a dybbuk? They don’t all shill for Big Oil and Big Vape.
Some do pro bono work, which is what CT’s manoeuvring at the moment with Neuroblastoma Australia, rattling the can for a drug therapy that dramatically lifts survival rates for children.
It explains in part why Ryan was supposed to be at the Press Club table alongside them; she met privately with CT operatives Laura Sobels and Talitha Try on Wednesday, along with Neuroblastoma CEO Lucy Jones.
As for why she pulled a no-show at the speaker’s event? Apparently she had urgent business back at parliament. Voting, divisions, etc. Or maybe she just didn’t want to be seen dining with the enemy.
Small pond
Barrenjoey is keeping an optimistic price target on luxury goods mob Cettire, and that’s despite Cettire’s recent troubles and a mass sell-off of stock on Monday – followed by further losses on Wednesday. Things can only get better from here, right?
Keep in mind that Barrenjoey is the house broker for Cettire, and analyst Aryan Norozi maintained a buy rating on the stock, even after slashing its price target from $4.50 to $2.60. He’s banking on a recovery from 2026.
And he’s not alone. Chami Ratnapala at Bell Potter did the same, cutting Bell’s price target from $4 to $2.60, although she blamed the company’s recent failings on mere cyclical factors. Yes, those waves of bad press about its business practices are all just seasonal, really.
Notable in the Barrenjoey take, however (and first spotted by Substack writer Taxloss) is the name of the associate on the briefing note, Taylor Guyot, an equity research analyst and daughter of Todd Guyot, co-portfolio manager for the Australian Small Companies Fund at Phil King’s Regal Partners – Regal being a great big backer of Cettire. Only last month it upped its stake in Cettire to 15.24 per cent, so mere weeks before the disastrous profit downgrade was made public.
We’re not seriously suggesting this connection presents any conflict with Barrenjoey’s price target or assessment but, as Taxloss pointed out, too, it is a curiosity, and perhaps another reminder of just how small the pond really is in Australian financial services.
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