Meta has refused to rule out pulling all news content from its platforms including Facebook

Tech giant Meta will not be transparent on whether it will eventually pull all news from its platforms and also conceded that its social media platforms have ‘not harmed’ children.

Tech giant Meta has refused to be transparent on the future availability of news on its platforms. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Tech giant Meta has refused to be transparent on the future availability of news on its platforms and in a stunning admission has declared its social media sites have not harmed children.

Meta executives appeared before the Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society on Friday and told the hearing they could not determine if news will continue to be available on its sites if it is designated under the news media bargaining code.

Meta’s regional director of policy for Australia, Mia Garlick, told the hearing in Canberra that “all options are on the table.”

“We have made that announcement that we are deprecating the Facebook news product … we are still paying out the deals that supported that product,” Ms Garlick said.

“We haven’t had any indication from the government about any potential next steps and so I’m not in a position to be able to share more details about hypotheticals.”

Meta revealed earlier this year it was abandoning deals under the code which could result in close to $100m being lost in these arrangements with media outlets.

Meta owns social media platforms Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp.

Ms Garlick claimed only 3 per cent of Facebook’s “feed” includes news content, this has been disputed by news outlets.

News Corp Australasia’s executive chairman Michael Miller said on Friday following the hearing: “Meta’s representatives made it very clear that the company is prepared to shut down access to news if the government dares to enforce Australia’s laws.

“I warned this would be Meta’s position and that it was prepared to blackmail Australia over this issue.

“All genuine evidence shows millions of Australian Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp users consume and value news on social media, and to turn off that access would directly attack their right to be reliably informed.”

Ms Garlick was asked at the hearing by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young if the “sharing” of news links and information among friends could be “banned”.

The Meta executive confirmed this could happen in order to “comply with the law.”

“Yes we need to stop the sharing of mainstream media news, obviously people will continue to have their own personal conversations completely free,” Ms Garlick said.

Senator Hanson-Young rejected the 3 per cent figure and told Ms Garlick: “If you want us to believe your 3 per cent, you are going to have to start putting some core real data on the table for us.”

The committee, chaired by federal Labor MP Kate Thwaites, also questioned Meta’s vice president and global head of safety, Antigone Davis, who in a shock admission claimed that Meta had not harmed younger users and instead provided “tremendous benefits.”

“I think that issues of teen mental health are complex and multifactorial, I think that it is our responsibility as a company to ensure that teens can take advantage of those benefits of social media and a safe and positive environment,” she said.

“We are committed to trying to provide a safe and positive experience.

“For example if a teen is struggling with an eating disorder and they’re on our platform we want to try to put in place safeguards to ensure that they have a positive experience so that we aren’t contributing or exacerbating that situation.”

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young during the Social Media Committee at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Liberal MP Andrew Wallace rejected these claims and told Ms Davis: “You cannot be serious.”

“You cannot be taken seriously Ms Davis when you say that.”

News Corporation, the publisher of mastheads including The Australian, Daily Telegraph and Herald Sun, recently started a campaign called “Let Them Be Kids” which called for children under the age of 16 to be restricted from having social media accounts.

During the hearing Meta also conceded it has no employees in Australia that deal with removing dangerous and harmful content from its websites.

Ms Garlick said the company’s complaints handlers are “not based in Australia.”

“We have a community operations team that has the tools and the authority to remove content consistent with our policies, they’re not based in Australia,” she said.

Asked by Senator Hanson-Young how many employees Meta has in Australia, Ms Garlick was unsure.

“It’s more than dozens and less than thousands,” she said.