In early January, Meta scrapped its highly controversial “fact-checking” program in the US; among those who reacted with alarm were Australian officials.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers told AFP at the time that this was “a very damaging development, damaging for our democracy.”
“It can be damaging for people’s mental health to get the wrong information on social media, and so of course we are concerned about that,” Chalmers said.
But it turns out Australia’s government had nothing to worry about.
In a blog post this week, Meta announced that “fact-checking” is alive and well in that country, and that censorship of “deepfakes” and “misinformation” will continue, specifically now in the context of the federal election scheduled for mid-May.
Meta clearly adapts its rules depending on who happens to be in power in a particular country at a particular time, and the authorities in Australia will be happy to hear that “fact-checkers” will be at work during the campaign.
In the US during the previous administration, these third-party networks were in some instances associated with government agencies via the funding of yet more third-party “proxy” groups, universities, etc.
Eventually, these schemes got so discredited that Meta had to stop using them, amid accusations that the project served primarily as a tool to suppress “disfavored” speech, rather than establish facts in an unbiased manner.
Meta has now said that AI-generated content in Australia is eligible to be flagged by “our independent fact-checking partners.”
Ahead of the election, Meta continues to “work with” Agence France-Presse (AFP) and the Australian Associated Press (AAP) who will be allowed to “independently review content through Meta Australia’s third-party fact-checking program.”
Once it is decided that a post contains “misinformation” – such as content that “could contribute” to imminent violence or physical harm, but also, attempts to interfere with voting – warning labels will be attached to it, and its visibility will be reduced in Feed and Explore.
Previously, reports indicated a high level of suppression of content flagged by “fact-checkers” on Facebook and Instagram: 95% fewer clicks and 38-47% fewer share completions.
Meta also pledged to continue working with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) by activating what the giant calls its “voter empowerment products.”
Not only will Australians using Meta’s platforms be nudged to turn out at the polls, but they will also be “connected with verified information from the AEC across Facebook and Instagram about where and when they can vote.”
