‘Leave us alone’, says Facebook, arguing scrutiny is ‘unreasonable’

Tech giant Facebook has called on the federal parliament to direct its attention elsewhere.

Facebook suggested that the ongoing scrutiny on the two tech titans was unreasonable, and may be helping their rivals. Picture: AFP

Tech giant Facebook has called on the federal parliament to direct its attention elsewhere, declaring it and Google have been “exhaustively examined” in five major policy inquiry processes over the last four years.

In a submission to an inquiry into media diversity, Facebook suggested that the ongoing scrutiny on the two tech titans was unreasonable, and may be helping their rivals.

“Relationships between digital platforms and Australian media businesses have been continuously and comprehensively scrutinised by Australian policymakers and regulators over the last four years,” the tech giant said in its submission.

“We contend that the particular component of this inquiry’s terms of reference related to digital platforms has been exhaustively debated and considered elsewhere.

“We would encourage the committee to look for proposals to support media diversity beyond just two US companies, which will inevitably give an unfair advantage to Facebook’s competitors in the technology sector, including rivals from countries that propagate different and undesirable visions for the Internet.”

The inquiry was set up following a petition from former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, with Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young establishing a senate committee to probe issues around media ownership and changing business models.

Facebook said it was not responsible for media companies’ revenue pressure, telling the inquiry that news represents a negligible source of revenue for the tech giant.

The tech company, which is separately facing looming regulation in Australia with the world-first mandatory media bargaining code, described news on its services as ‘highly substitutable’, and said it wasn’t an important part of its local offering. The company has threatened to block the sharing of news on its apps if the bargaining code becomes law.

It said that it had experienced growth in both revenues and users since 2018, despite changing its News Feed algorithm to display less journalism.

“Notwithstanding [a] reduction in distribution of news content, the past two years have seen both an increase in revenue and in people engaging with our services. This confirms that when there is less news on Facebook, people engage with other content and our auction pricing, which is blind to the type of content our ads are shown around, adapts accordingly to changes in content liquidity.”

The company said it is “essential that the inquiry recognise that Facebook is not responsible for the challenges facing the Australian news industry.”

“The challenges facing the Australian news industry have existed since the commercial phase of the internet began and Australian newspaper circulation began to decline in the 1990s. These challenges stem from tectonic changes in technology and consumer behaviour,” the company said.

“For example, the advent of 24-hour cable television news channels drew significant consumer attention and advertising business away from newspapers. The proliferation of the smartphone led to an even more rapid acceleration of choices for consumers in how to access news and information, including through online news services.”

It added that it hasn’t been properly recognised for the value it delivers to local publishers. It said the referral traffic it has provided to Australian media publishers in 2020 alone was worth $394m, and represented around 4.7 billion referrals.

It added that publishers generated $5.4 million from its revenue share programs, such as in-stream video advertising.

News Corp Australia in its submission called for urgent reform to defamation laws, along with freedom of information processes.

“As the Committee would also be aware, the ACCC has, and continues to, undertake inquiries into the impact of global digital platforms on the media and advertising industry in Australia. “These work streams are focused on the issues facing news media businesses in the digital environment. News Corp Australia has participated in these inquiries, including making detailed submissions. We refer the Committee to those submission in considering the contemporary issues facing the news media in Australia.”

The union representing journalists, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) said the government needed to better fund local news outlets and ‘new media’.

The inquiry is set to report back by August.