Australia: The country “concerned” by Meta’s decision on fact-checking

Australia is “concerned” by Meta’s decision to cease its fact-checking operations for Facebook and Instagram in the United States, its Finance Minister Jim Chalmers said on Thursday.

Australia, which is one of the countries at the forefront of regulating tech giants, is concerned about the impact of misinformation on social media, he explained.

“Disinformation is very dangerous and we have seen it explode in recent years,” Jim Chalmers told national broadcaster ABC.

“A very harmful development”

“This is a very damaging development, which harms our democracy. “It can be detrimental to people’s mental health to receive misinformation on social media, and that is why we are of course concerned about this issue.”

Mark Zuckerberg’s group announced Tuesday that it was ending its fact-checking program in the United States and replacing it with a context note system, similar to that used by X.

Meta’s announcement comes as US Republicans and the owner of rival social network X, Elon Musk, have repeatedly complained about fact-checking programs, which they liken to “censorship.”

Restrict the spread of false information

The government is investing in trusted Australian news providers, such as public broadcaster ABC and national news agency AAP, to ensure people have reliable sources of information, Jim Chalmers said.

Disinformation and misinformation have become “an increasingly important component of our media, particularly our social media,” the minister said. Australia has often irritated digital giants, notably X, by its efforts to restrict the dissemination of false information or content deemed dangerous.

Late last year, the country passed new laws aimed at banning under-16s from registering on social media platforms.

A contract with Meta not affected

But in November the government had to abandon plans to fine social media companies if they fail to stem the spread of misinformation.

Australian fact-checking organization AAP FactCheck said its contract with Meta in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific was not affected by the group’s decision in the United States.

AFP currently works in 26 languages ​​with Facebook’s fact-checking program, under which Facebook pays to use fact-checks from around 80 organizations around the world on the platform, as well as on WhatsApp and Instagram.

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