Fact checked into silence

Contractors’ bias puts free speech at risk in new laws

Australians’ free speech could soon by limited by the “entrenched bias” of independent fact checkers under provisions of a proposed misinformation bill, new research suggests.

The warning comes as Australian businessman Dick Smith won an apology from the ABC this week over an RMIT ABC Fact Check that he claimed was “full of lies”. Mr Smith received the apology after he sent a three-page letter to ABC managing director David Anderson complaining that he had been mischaracterised.

An Institute of Public Affairs

study of 970 fact checks performed by RMIT and AAP found 65 per cent of verdicts came down favourably on the side of centre-left politicians.

The bias was even worse when it came to specific issues such as climate change and Covid-19 policy. IPA researchers found that 81 per cent of fact-checking investigations targeted critics of government climate change and energy policy while “almost none of the controversial claims made by activists such as predictions of imminent catastrophe, have been investigated”.

Researchers also found 94 per cent of fact checks during the pandemic targeted critics of government Covid-19 policy, despite official claims about everything from the effectiveness of masks to the origin of the virus being largely in doubt.

The IPA warned this could see freedom to debate controversial ideas curtailed under planned misinformation legislation. A “guidance note” issued last year by the government said that, under the terms of the law, regulators could use “fact checkers or other third-party contractors … to monitor compliance” with misinformation rules.

“Under the federal government’s proposed laws, fact checking bodies will be given enormous weight to determine what social media companies censor in order to avoid fines that can potentially range into the millions of dollars,” IPA law and policy director John Storey said.

“It is clear that if these organisations are empowered to determine what is misinformation, it will only censor critics of official government policies and the centre-right.”

The IPA previously found that 91 per cent of fact checks about the failed Voice to parliament referendum were used to target claims of Voice opponents, with 99 per cent of those claims assessed to be “false”.

A spokesman for Communications

Minister Michelle Rowland said: “A number of digital platforms already engage fact checkers under their own policies, and some parties to the consultation on the draft bill made suggestions on measures to support the use of fact checkers and other independent researchers.

“The draft bill would give the Australian Communications and Media Authority information gathering powers to provide greater transparency about the systems and processes digital platforms use to respond to misinformation and disinformation on their sites. It is not about individual pieces of content.”