Voluntary tech ‘bullies’ code panned

Tech giants Google, Facebook and Twitter have been accused of ‘watering down’ the discredited European Union Code of Practice.

Mobile applications of Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Google and Facebook Messenger are seen on a tablet. Picture: AFP

Tech giants Google, Facebook and Twitter have been accused of “watering down” the discredited European Union Code of Practice on Disinformation and passing it off as an Australian model.

Ahead of the Morrison government’s mandatory media bargaining code legislation going into parliament this week, which will force Google and Facebook to pay for news, The Australian understands a fresh fight is looming over an industry-led voluntary code on disinformation.

DIGI — the Australian lobby group representing tech companies including Facebook, Google and Twitter — has been accused of putting forward a model with “no teeth and no transparency”.

Amid a wave of disinformation peddled by nation states and amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic, Reset Australia executive director Chris Cooper said “self regulation” led by the tech giants “will not work”.

Reset Australia is part of a global initiative working to counter digital threats to democracy, which is funded by The Sandler Foundation and Luminate. Luminate is linked to eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.

Following the ACCC’s Digital Platforms Inquiry, the Australian Communications and Media Authority asked DIGI to develop a voluntary code, which had been due to be in place by the end of December.

Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher aid the development of a voluntary code was an important step in ‘addressing information quality on digital platforms’. Picture: Getty Images

Separately, Josh Frydenberg developed a News Media and Digital Platforms Bargaining Code — described as a world first — which would force Facebook and Google to pay for news content and share data collection methods. The mandatory bargaining code legislation, which has gone through cabinet, will be put into parliament this week following the Coalition party room and Labor caucus meeting on Tuesday.

Mr Cooper said DIGI’s disinformation code “watered down the failed EU disinformation code”.

“The DIGI code offers no transparency around how the platforms profit from and perpetuate disinformation,” Mr Cooper told The Australian. “There is no independent oversight and no consequences for platforms that ignore the code.

“Australia can be a leader in addressing the harms of social media, but first we need to crack down on these global tech bullies.”

Mr Cooper said ACMA offered a “real chance of collaborating on policy, and instead the platforms have just reheated an already failed approach, hoping we wouldn’t notice that it hasn’t worked overseas”.

In a policy submission sent from Reset Australia to DIGI, the group outlined a raft of recommendations they say is required to deliver on ACMA’s request.

They include broadening the code’s definition of disinformation to include misleading advertising and “clearly partisan” news and commentary.

Another recommendation is that a third-party organisation, which is independent, objective and “prioritises the public interest”, is chosen to be the code’s administrator.

Reset Australia also believes there should be clear data sharing arrangements in place to allow researchers, think tanks and public regulators to research disinformation and audit algorithms to understand how diaspora communities in Australia are targeted through social media.

A DIGI spokeswoman said the lobby group had proposed the new code as “part of an industry effort to collaborate with the federal government on the regulation of disinformation and news credibility signalling”.

“Our approach to the development of the code is informed by learnings from international examples such as the European Union Code of Practice on Disinformation,” she said.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said the development of a voluntary code was an important step in “addressing information quality on digital platforms”. He said ACMA would report to the government on the “adequacy of the platforms’ measures and the broader impacts of misinformation” by next June.