No more inquiries, declares Facebook

TECH giant Facebook has called on the federal parliament to direct its attention elsewhere, declaring it and Google have been “exhaustively examined” in five major policy inquiry processes over the past four years.

In a submission to an inquiry into media diversity, Facebook suggested that the ongoing scrutiny on the two tech titans was unreasonable, and may be helping their rivals.

“Relationships between digital platforms and Australian media businesses have been continuously and comprehensively scrutinised by Australian policymakers and regulators over the past four years,” the tech giant said in its submission.

“We contend that the particular component of this inquiry’s terms of reference related to digital platforms has been exhaustively debated and considered elsewhere.

“We would encourage the committee to look for proposals to support media diversity beyond just two US companies, which will inevitably give an unfair advantage to Facebook’s competitors in the technology sector, including rivals from countries that propagate different and undesirable visions for the Internet.”

The inquiry was set up following a petition from former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (inset), with Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young establishing a senate committee to probe issues around media ownership and changing business models.

The tech company, which is separately facing looming regulation in Australia with the world-first mandatory media bargaining code, described news on its services as ‘highly substitutable’, and said it wasn’t an important part of its local offering.

The inquiry is set to report back by August.