Government won’t be ‘held ransom’ by Meta and ‘disregard’ for Australian laws, values
The government won’t be ‘held ransom’ by Meta after it threatened to pull news content, describing the tech giant as having blatant ‘disregard’ for Australian laws and values.
The Albanese government has declared it will not be “held ransom” by Meta after it threatened to pull news content from its platforms, blasting the tech giant for having blatant “disregard” for Australian laws and values.
It comes amid an escalation of the standoff between the government and Meta over the latter’s abandonment of its Australian-based deals under the news media bargaining code, and an inability to accept its “social responsibility” to minimise harm to young people on its platforms.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the recent threat to pull all news content would affect “millions of Australians” and the government wouldn’t take it sitting down. “We expect every company to abide by our laws,” a spokeswoman for the minister said. “The government will not be held ransom by multinational companies who blatantly threaten to avoid them.”
Anthony Albanese called Meta’s executives “arrogant” for refusing to concede that social media, and a lot of its own platforms, continued to harm young and vulnerable people.
“Meta are showing how out of touch and arrogant they are,” the Prime Minister said on Saturday, adding that the company had abdicated its “responsibility”.
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 social media accounts.
Meta’s reluctance to engage on the issue comes amid, but not contained to, concerns companies weren’t doing enough to rid platforms of extremist material.
The Australian revealed on Sunday how Telegram had failed to clear footage of terror attacks and massacres from its platform, months after the government demanded answers, prompting Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil to accuse tech giants of platforming terrorism.
“There is no question that new technologies, including social media and messaging apps, are playing a pivotal role in the presentation of terrorism,” she said.
Ms Rowland’s spokeswoman said the government was taking “decisive action” to address online harm and keep users, particularly young and vulnerable people, safe.
It has funded a $6.5m trial to test age-restrictive technology on harmful content, launched a $6m initiative to roll out media literacy programs, and has “empowered” the eSafety Commissioner to hold platforms to account “including putting them on notice that they must place the best interest of the child at the heart of services (they) use,” she said, adding that the review of the Online Safety Act would make recommendations on how to strengthen laws further.
Country Press Australia president Andrew Schreyer said Meta had “evolved into an anti-social entity that has provided a haven for toxicity”. He called on the government to insert a “must carry news” clause in the code, forcing them to negotiate with publishers or impose a 20 per cent tax on Meta’s Australian revenue, with proceeds going towards mental health programs to assist young people negatively affected by social media.
“If Meta refuses, they should be banned from Australia,” he said.
It follows Meta’s regional director of policy for Australia, Mia Garlick, telling a joint select committee on Friday that it wouldn’t confirm whether news content would still be available on its sites if it was designated under the code.
Meta revealed this year it was abandoning deals under the code, which could result in close to $100m being lost in arrangements with media outlets. Ms Garlick said only 3 per cent of Facebook’s “feed” includes news content.
News Corp Australasia’s executive chairman Michael Miller on Friday said following the hearing: “Meta’s representatives made it very clear the company is prepared to shut down access to news if the government dares to enforce Australia’s laws.
“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.”
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