The bosses of News Corp, Nine and Seven West Media have urged the Albanese government to clamp down on social media platforms and designate Meta under the Media Bargaining in opening addresses to a parliamentary enquiry into Big Tech on Friday.
News Corp Australia’s chairman Michael Miller led the attacks, describing social media platforms as an online spaces where “companies can prey on women with fake porn, peddle scam advertisements to rob the elderly, and push violent conspiracy theories with no respect for our laws and no accountability whatsoever”.
“Social media has become a toxic force in our society with online scams and blackmail; cyberbullying and trolling; deep fakes and political interference, and sites that celebrate anorexia,” Miller said to the parliamentary committee in his opening address.
“It has also served up a diet of damaging untruths, while threatening the democratic process, by restricting Australians access to genuine news and information.
“The experience of Australia’s media companies in dealing with social platforms, particularly Meta, is important – because right now Meta is preparing to blackmail – not just we in the news industry – but also you as a government.
“By refusing to renew its agreement to pay for news content, Meta is daring Australia to apply the laws this parliament was united in passing three years ago.”
Miller and the the bosses of Nine and Seven West Media would like Meta to be designated as part of the News Media Bargaining Code, which would compel them to pay for the Australian news content that is distributed on Facebook and Instagram.
Earlier this year, Meta confirmed it was abandoning news content deals once the current ones had expired.
Meta has been paying about $70 million to 13 media outlets under the News Media Bargaining Code.
In a blog post explaining why it is walking away from the deals, Meta says the Facebook Feed drives 2.3 billion free clicks worth $115m in ad impressions to Aussie media websites and it isn’t the responsibility of tech companies to prop up ailing media business models. The company also argues that only 3 per cent of posts that are shared on its platform are news.
Miller disagrees, arguing that 48 per cent of Australians get their news using a Meta platform, and in America it is 31 per cent, according to recent studies.
“I find it surprising that the platforms can easily block the news, but they can’t block the content that targets Australians,” Miller said.
“With so many elections this year, it is also deeply concerning that algorithms and the people who control the algorithms are prepared to directly attack the public’s right to be genuinely informed as they prepare to vote.
He continued: “News Corp journalists and commentators do get accused of misbehaviour for their reporting and, exchange of views, but they do so in a totally accountable, open environment governed by the rule of law, and I stand by them.”
Mike Sneesby: ‘Issue is bigger than newsroom funding’
Nine CEO Mike Sneesby echoed calls for greater scrutiny and accountability of social media, as well as backing Miller’s claim that far more news is being consumed on Facebook than Meta suggests.
“Michael has touched on the flaws in Meta’s claims that news accounts for just 3 per cent of what people see in their Facebook feeds. For Nine, the consumption of our news content on social media platforms has never been greater – and Meta, via Facebook and Instagram, is one of the greatest beneficiaries of this,” he told the hearing.
“Nine’s news and current affairs, sport, entertainment, publishing and radio businesses will account for close to 5 billion video views on Meta’s platforms alone this financial year, with consumption of Nine’s video content having increased at a compound annual growth rate of around 50 per cent since financial year 22. The substantial majority of those video views] are of our news content.”
Sneesby said social media’s “negative impact on the news ecosystem” was not confined to audiences and revenues.
“Journalists at Nine and other outlets experience targeted and vicious trolling on an all-too regular basis, with female presenters often being the subject of the worst online bullying. Something that is well documented to occur far more broadly – particularly impacting our children and teens. Too little has been done by the Platforms to stop this behaviour.
“Aussie media companies are not looking for a free kick. We just want to compete on a level playing field. In a globalised industry, the recommender systems and algorithms of the platforms are increasingly designed in a way that preferences news or content that is commercially beneficial to its multinational owners and their multinational partners – not the Australian people.”
Jeff Howard: ‘We endorse Galloway-style regulation’
Seven West Media’s new CEO and MD Jeff Howard struck a less combative tone, but said that social media companies that operate in Australia should play by the nation’s rules.
“Social media platforms are unavoidable trading partners. As a country we spend millions advertising on these platforms – and according to SMI, the government spend YTD on Meta is up 40 per cent,” he said.
“The tech giants are dominating the advertising pool and most of it is going offshore. We compete aggressively for a diminishing residual advertising pool… and have restrictions on what and where we can place that advertising. We pay tax in Australia. And we hold each other to account – often in ways I’d prefer we didn’t!
Howard believes that Australia should not acquiesce to the demands of the digital platforms.
“They should be made to play by our rules,” he said. “Other multi-national industries are compelled to comply with all manner of law and regulation when they want to trade here; it is time for the social media exemption to be addressed.”
Howard believes that there should be regulation to ensure the platforms take responsibility for the content they distribute, particularly when it comes to protecting consumers – and especially our kids.
He cited Scott Galloway’s proposal for the removal of the Section 230 protection for algorithmically elevated content; identity verification; breaking up big tech; and age gating.
It is questionable whether the Australian government is willing, or capable, of implementing these proposals against global multinational companies headquartered in Slicon Valley.
Nonetheless, the gloves are off and media chiefs have made it abundantly clear that they are up for the fight.
