Twiggy’s swipe at Meta, X
Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest says Meta, X and other tech giants should be forced to domicile their local operations in Australia so they can be held accountable for “harmful” content that’s published on their platforms and made to “exercise common human decency”.
Dr Forrest is suing Meta in California, saying a 30-yearold US law allows it to dodge Australian regulators and claim immunity for publishing illegal material, such as scam advertisements, featuring his image.
Australia’s former Special Adviser on Cyber Security, Alastair MacGibbon, has called on digital platforms to face the same regulations as traditional media, urging Labor to amend the Online Safety Act to include a mandatory code of conduct to compel tech companies to comply with Australian law.
Two of the biggest tech companies – Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta (which owns Facebook and Instagram) and Elon Musk-owned X (formerly known as Twitter) – have fallen foul of Australian regulators, who are fighting an uphill battle to rein in the social media titans.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has launched legal action against X after it refused to take down footage of last week’s church stabbing at Wakely.
X’s inaction prompted a rebuke from Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil, who said “just about every problem” in society today was being caused or made worse by social media, and it was unacceptable for tech giants to make billions of dollars wreaking social havoc and leaving governments to “pick up the pieces”.
Dr Forrest said he was willing to work with the federal government to take “immediate and effective action to stop these foreign companies from hiding behind a lie that they do not do business in Australia”.
“Like most Australians, I’m appalled by the lack of accountability from global social media companies, who believe they don’t need to exercise common human decency and act as if they’re beyond the law,” he said.
“They must be held to account for harmful content and scams which pollute their platforms. A critical first step is for social media giants to be required to run their Australian platform as registered Australian companies, to ensure they are accountable under Australian law.
“If they profit from Australians, they should not be able to hide behind Californian laws that leave Australian users exposed.”
Dr Forrest said the Mr Zuckerberg-led Meta repeatedly snubbed his requests to remove scam ads featuring his likeness that have fleeced some Australians of their life savings.
In the US, social media companies are immune from liability for the content posted by third parties under a 30-yearold federal law – a position Dr Forrest is challenging, given he says Meta knowingly accepts money from criminals to publish their advertisements.