AUSTRALIA LAUNCHED AN INVESTIGATION INTO TECH GIANTS

Wed 01 December 2021:

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Wednesday that Australia will hold a wide-ranging parliamentary inquiry into the behavior of the world’s major technology giants and the need for new legislation.

Australia has taken the lead in international attempts to limit the dominance of companies such as Alphabet and Facebook, enacting legislation that has been heralded as a blueprint for others to follow.

Morrison said on Wednesday that the new inquiry will have a broad scope, including asking parliamentarians to look into the algorithms used by social media platforms, how the firms verify identification and age, and how well these limits are implemented.

“Big tech has big questions to answer,” Morrison told reporters. “Big tech created these platforms, they have a responsibility to ensure they’re safe.”

Earlier this year, Australia enacted strong new regulations requiring tech companies to pay local media for material, and Canberra has proposed laws requiring them to disclose the identity of those who use anonymous accounts if they are accused of defamation by another person.

When Australia proposed legislation requiring both businesses to pay local media for news content, Google threatened to shut down its Australian search engine, while Facebook temporarily blocked all third-party content from Australian accounts.

After a series of revisions to the Act were offered, both eventually reached agreements with Australian media businesses.

The new investigation’s committee will submit its conclusions by February 15, 2022.

The Facebook, which recently changed its name to Meta, long under scrutiny over its handling of abuses on its services, has been in the spotlight after a former employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked internal documents that include research and discussions about Instagram’s effects on the mental health of teens and on whether Facebook’s platforms stoke divisions.

Haugen has said the documents show the company picked profits over user safety. Facebook disputed this characterization, saying the documents were being used to paint a “false picture.”

The documents, which were first reported by the Wall Street Journal, have spurred calls for Facebook to be more transparent and have raised questions over whether metrics such as prevalence give the full picture of how the company handles abuses.

(with agency)

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