Stop showing crime, Meta told

Meta Australia’s boss must take action to remove content that is putting Indigenous children at risk amid a violent crime wave in Alice Springs, child protection experts and the Coalition warn.

Meta Australia boss William ­Easton outside his Sydney home. Picture: Rhett Wyman/AFR

Meta Australia boss William ­Easton must step up and do more to remove content on his platform that is putting Indigenous children at risk amid a violent crime wave that has plagued Alice Springs for months, child protection experts and the Coalition have warned.

A spokeswoman for Meta on Friday said the company had contacted Northern Territory Chief Minister Eva Lawler directly after she accused the tech giant of ­“encouraging and reinforcing” youth crime among Indigenous children seeking social media ­infamy.

“At Meta, we have rules that outline what is and isn’t allowed on Facebook and Instagram. We have reached out to the Chief Minister’s office for their letter and will be following up to engage directly,” the spokeswoman said.

Peter Dutton has vowed to tackle “a scourge of young criminals” posting illegal activity for ­notoriety, urging digital platforms to “do better” to crack down on young people using platforms to share videos of illegal activity.

The Opposition Leader said ­offenders who sought to glamorise violence for “likes” was completely unacceptable, declaring a future Coalition government would give law enforcement broad sweeping powers to ensure tech platforms were held accountable.

Youths in Alice Springs drive a stolen Toyota Hilux through town at 4am earlier this year. Picture: Liam Mendes/The Australian

“The big social media platforms must absolutely be held accountable for the content they publish and profit from,” Mr Dutton told The Weekend Australian.

“The digital tech giants must do more to prevent this material from seeing the light of day – and when they don’t, we should be pursuing them with all the powers available to us.

“The Coalition under my leadership will give police the additional legal weapons they need to support them in their fight to combat this shocking trend.”

Ms Lawler has demanded an urgent meeting with Meta, saying her government is considering following other states in launching “post and boast” legislation that could lead to jail time for anyone sharing videos of committing a crime via social media.

On Friday she repeated her calls for Meta to immediately ­remove all criminal content being posted from the Territory, saying the company had “an obligation not to profit off crime and violent behaviour”.

“Any criminal or violent content coming from the Territory needs to be removed immediately and those accounts need to be flagged and potentially shut down to go some way to reduce crime, ­violence and anti-social behaviour,” Ms Lawler said.

Child protection expert Patrick Parkinson called on Meta executives to take responsibility for dangerous harms their platforms are causing to children’s wellbeing, urging tech giants to implement age verification require­ments and lift the minimum age for access to 16 years.

“Meta and other social media operating in Australia need to find ways to remove videos of criminal behaviour promptly where it may encourage copycat crimes or riotous behaviour,” Professor Parkinson said.

“They also need to take responsibility for the harms their products are causing to children’s wellbeing. The case for stricter regulation on child protection grounds is now overwhelming.”

Following Ms Lawler’s calls, the Albanese government put tech titans on notice to stamp out ­offensive material posted online.

Flagging an overhaul of the ­nation’s online safety laws to ­ensure they are “fit for purpose to meet new and emerging harms”, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said tech giants must do more to remove dangerous content on their platforms.

Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy said she was “deeply troubled about the inappropriate use of social media by some young people – not just in Alice Springs, but around the country”. “This is a conversation that needs to take place,” Senator ­McCarthy said.

Opposition Indigenous affairs spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price warned social media was contributing to disorder in Alice Springs and throughout the Territory by “reinforcing the absence of consequences for anti-social and criminal behaviour”.

“Whilst there are many causes at the feet of the Territory government, such as their recent increase in the criminal age of responsibility, posting and boasting is a serious catalyst in the Territory’s escalating disorder,” Senator Price said.

“The Coalition has introduced legislation that would tackle this at a federal level. Anthony Albanese will be left behind if he does not join us and the growing number of state and territories that are ready and willing to act on this.”

Greens justice spokesman David Shoebridge said Labor must crack down on tech giants and make it illegal for them to share or profit from dangerous material posted online.

“Platforms make extraordinary amounts of money based on user-generated content, but so far have taken little to no responsibility for the community impacts of hosting that content.” he said.