Two executives of Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram and Threads, have been legally forced to front a Senate inquiry in Canberra. Their message – backing up that of CEO Mark Zuckerberg – spells grim news for social media fact checking, not just in Australia but around the world. Anthony Klan reports…
— Meta abandons “Climate Science Centre”
— Climate information websites deleted
— Not measuring climate mis/disinformation
— Execs forced to appear after refusing invitations
— Dodge key questions on climate misinfo
FEATURE
Social media giant Meta has strongly suggested it will abandon its Australian fact-checking operations — such as those used to flag lies over the Bondi terror attacks — in line with its moves in Donald Trump’s America.
Forced by law to appear before the Senate inquiry into climate misinformation — after twice rejecting earlier invitations — Meta executives said the company was “reconsidering” fact-checking in Australia.
Meta currently funds Australian Associated Press, which operates AAP Fact Check, and Agence France-Presse (AFP), to undertake fact checking, whereby they flag certain articles they deem to be “false” or “altered”.
There have been question marks over those arrangements since Meta killed fact checking in the US last year, in a move praised by US President Donald Trump.
In the US it instead now operates a “community notes” system where checking posts is left to users themselves, rather than professionals, in a process experts have described as “ripe for abuse”.
The “community notes” approach is adopted from Twitter (now X), where it was implemented after billionaire Elon Musk took over the platform.
“We have…moved away from this type of system (fact-checking) in the United States,” Simon Milner, Meta’s Asia-Pacific vice president of public policy, told the inquiry.
“We’ve moved to a community notes-based system”.
Fronting the Australian Senate’s Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy, in Canberra on February 16, Milner said the Australia fact checking operations ran under 12-month contracts, and AAP and AFP were contracted until the end of the year.
“Beyond that, I can’t confirm,” he said.
“The stated intention from our CEO (billionaire Mark Zuckerberg) is to move away from fact-checking”.
“The stated intention from our CEO is to move away from fact checking” — Simon Milner, Meta
Please consider DONATING HERE to support this vital journalism
A post by fake “grassroots” group “Advance” to Meta’s Facebook on Feb 10. Source: Facebook
Meta’s Australian head of policy, Cheryl Seeto, told the committee that ceasing fact-checking operations in Australia would not put Meta in breach of its “voluntary code of conduct”.
Deputy chair of the committee, ALP Senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah, indicated removing fact-checking would likely be met with resistance, stating Australia was “not the United States”.
“We shouldn’t have to compel you to appear” — Senator Whish-Wilson
It sets the scene for more friction between the Australian ALP Government and the tech giant, which has been angered by moves to increase regulation, including the world-first, under-16s social media ban, launched in December.
It also casts yet more shadow over the future of Meta’s fact-checking operations in UK and Europe, which, like in Australia, remain ongoing for now.
“The statements also cast yet more shadow over Meta’s fact-checking operations in the UK and Europe”
It comes as Meta is facing increasing push-back from governments worldwide.
This month Zuckerberg appeared before a Los Angles court to provide testimony over the safety of Meta’s platforms, to front allegations they are “designed to addict the brains of children”.
It is the first time the Meta CEO has provided testimony to a jury over the safety of the company’s platforms, and the case is seen as a bellwether, with a string of similar cases slated for the US later this year.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives at a Los Angeles Court earlier this month for a landmark trial over whether social media platforms deliberately addict and harm children. Picture: AP/Ryan Sun
Milner and Seeto were legally “compelled” to appear before the Senate inquiry after Meta at least twice rejected invitations to appear.
Under Australian law, individuals who refuse to attend a Federal Senate inquiry after being “compelled”, can face financial penalties or jail.
“Individuals who refuse to attend a Federal Senate inquiry can face financial penalties or jail”
The inquiry heard how Meta’s stance on climate change had changed substantially in recent years, with the scrapping its much vaunted Climate Science Centre, and deleting climate science web pages.
“When asked whether climate misinformation remained a big issue, Milner dodged the question”
When asked whether Meta still believed that climate misinformation was “big issue” across its platforms — as Zuckerberg had told an April 2021 US congressional hearing — Milner dodged the question.
The Meta executive said climate misinformation was “one of a range of different issues” that are “debated by people and governments and policy makers around the world” where “we have a responsibility to address disinformation and misinformation”.
Chair of the climate misinformation committee, Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, pressed the point, asking again whether climate was “still a big issue on your platform?”
Milner responded: “I’m not aware of any evidence to suggest it’s got worse”.
“Milner said he was ‘not aware of any evidence’ that climate disinformation had become worse”
The group behind the campaign against the Indigenous Voice to parliament, “Advance”, is at the heart of a nationwide anti-renewables disinformation campaign. Source: The Klaxon
Yet Milner also said Meta did not specifically monitor climate disinformation or misinformation.
“How would you know if it’s got worse or hasn’t got worse if you’re not monitoring content like the tsunami of climate misinformation on your platform?” Whish-Wilson responded.
“(It) doesn’t particularly stand out compared to other types of misinformation”, Milner responded.
“(It) doesn’t particularly stand out compared to other types of misinformation” — Simon Milner
Much of the evidence provided by the Meta executives was at odds with other evidence heard by the inquiry.
“This committee has received substantial evidence from submitters all around the world about what a massive issue it is on your platform and other tech platforms and that it has got worse,” Whish-Wilson said.
“Much of the evidence provided by the Meta executives was at odds with other evidence heard by the inquiry”
Meta’s Asia-Pacific vice president of public policy, Simon Milner, fronts the inquiry. Source: Australian Senate.
Milner said Meta focused on “behaviour” rather than “content”.
He told the committee that regarding “climate change content”, Meta had found “only found one example of coordinated inauthentic behaviour in recent years.
“This was in 2021. It involved a group of accounts that were focused on Brazil, and it was about the issue of deforestation, but it wasn’t the content that was the issue,” Milner said.
“We have only found one example of coordinated inauthentic behaviour over the last several years involving climate change content” — Simon Milner
More in The Klaxon’s climate misinformation series:
2025
Nov 5 — Advance “duping” public: Top expert
Oct 23 — Advance major spreader of fossil fuels lies before federal election: ARC study
June 25 – Howard oversaw $500,000 to “Advance”
May 8 — “Bandt could not survive our attacks” — Advance
May 4 — We “destroyed” Greens: Megamillionaire disinformation group “Advance”
Lobby groups such as “Advance” — which claims to be a “grassroots” movement but is in fact funded by fossil fuels interests and mega-millionaires — are actively aggressively spreading climate disinformation on social media, including heavily on Meta’s platforms.
Much of the money flowing to climate disinformation groups is “dark money”, where the true sources of the funds are hidden.
Advance consistently posts outlandishly false claims to Meta’s platforms, along with AI-generated images, including that “net zero is bankrupting Australia”; climate action is an “agenda that puts Aussies last”; and that “net zero is fake”.
On February 5 it posted to Facebook that the “only way Australians will keep warm next winter” is by burning fires.
“Advance consistently posts outlandishly false claims to Meta’s platforms…including that “net zero is bankrupting Australia”, climate action is an “agenda that puts Aussies last”, and that “net zero is fake”
A post by Advance to Meta’s Facebook on February 5. Source: Facebook
Australian Resistence
Deputy chair of the climate misinformation committee, ALP Senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah, indicated any removal of fact-checking in Australia would be met with resistance.
“We have had a lot of criticism of community notes by experts in Australia who have suggested that this is pushing the onus of responsibility…onto the public, when they are ill-equipped to deal with a behemoth like Meta,” she told the Meta executives.
“As a committee, I don’t think we would be terribly in favour of putting this on to the Australian public.
“So I suggest you look closely at your agreement with third party fact checkers of repute in Australia, like AAP and others,” she said.
“I suggest you look closely at your agreement with third party fact checkers of repute in Australia” — Senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah
Milner said Meta had “moved away” from fact-checking in the US and that Zuckerberg had “made clear just over a year ago that we are looking to transform our approach to how we address misinformation at scale”.
Ananda-Rajah responded: “We are not the United States”.
“We are not the United States” — Senator Ananda-Rajah
Fake “grassroots” movements such as “Advance” use Meta’s platforms to aggressively spread climate disinformation. Source: Facebook
Meta announced it was scrapping fact-checking, in the US on January 5 last year, following Trump’s re-election and two weeks before his inauguration. (When asked by media whether he thought his public attacks on Meta had influenced that decision, Trump responded: “Probably”).
In response to the announcement, Australia’s Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, Anananda-Rajah’s government colleague, said “access to trusted information” had “never been more important”.
“That’s why the Albanese government is supporting high quality, fact-checked information for the public through ongoing support to ABC, SBS, and AAP,” Rowland said.
Meta, along with fellow tech giants Google, Microsoft and Twitter (now X), have created a lobby group in Australia called “Digi”, through which they have created a voluntary code of conduct.
Whish-Wilson praised the Australian fact-checking operations currently used by Meta.
“I’ve seen what they’ve done around the Bondi shootings and I think they’ve done a really good job detecting fake and inauthentic behaviour,” he told the committee.
“I’ve seen what they’ve done around the Bondi shootings and I think they’ve done a really good job” — Senator Peter Whish-Wilson
However Whish-Wilson raised concerns that while false articles could “go viral”, reaching “millions of people”, the reach of fact check articles was relatively minimal.
Milner’s response appeared to support fact-checking, despite Meta’s stated opposition to the practice.
“One of the things that we do is, when there is a fact check, as well as putting a label on that content and a warning…we also reduce its virality”.
“When there is a fact check, as well as putting a label on that content and a warning…we also reduce its virality” — Simon Milner
More in The Klaxon’s climate misinformation series:
2025
Apr 29 — Libs vehicle gives “Advance” more than Gov’t spends on Welcome to Country
Apr 24 – “Advance” in Indigenous attack rant
Feb 22 – Uh-oOh! — Ad giant stung over climate lie factory
Feb 17 — Liberal Party vehicle funding fossil fuels lies
Jan 15 – Anti-Voice group spreading “whale death” lies
Milner said there had been “concerns” of “political bias” around fact-checking in the US, echoing statements by Trump, and later by Zuckerberg, who, when scrapping the process last year, announced fact-checkers were “too politically biased”.
Those claims have been fiercely rejected by many experts.
“That (fact-checkers) had a particular perspective on an issue and therefore were not independently, neutrally, fact-checking in the way that they had been set up to do,” Milner told the Senate inquiry.
He provided no evidence to back the claim.
“This is particularly the case in the United States, but it’s not the only place where there have been concerns about the third-party fact checkers being biased — despite the fact that they were authorised by the International Fact-Checking Network,” Milner said.
The International Fact-Checking Network, of which AAP and AFP are members, has strenuously rejected the claims.
“Fact-checkers have not been biased in their work,” International Fact-Checking Network director Angie Drobnic Holan said last year.
“That attack line comes from those who feel they should be able to exaggerate and lie without rebuttal or contradiction,” Angie Drobnic Holan said.
“That attack line comes from those who feel they should be able to exaggerate and lie without rebuttal or contradiction” — Angie Drobnic Holan
She said Meta had scrapped US fact-checking “in the wake of extreme political pressure” from the Trump administration and its supporters.
“Fact-checking journalism has never censored or removed posts; it’s added information and context to controversial claims, and it’s debunked hoax content and conspiracy theories”.
International Fact-Checking Network director Angie Drobnic Holan responds to Meta scrapping fact-checking in the US. Source: LinkedIn
“Not about money”
Meta’s opposition to fact-checking was not financial, but about “scale” and “bias”, Milner told the committee.
“It’s not an issue about money. This is about how can one deal with this issue at scale across a range of issues and also recognising that erm, communities may have different issues that they want to particularly focus on,” he said.
This is about…recognising that communities may have different issues that they want to particularly focus on” — Simon Milner
Whish-Wilson said he was aware AAP’s entire Australian fact checking team comprised just three people.
Cheryl Seeto, Meta’s head of policy for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands fronts the inquiry. Source: Australian Senate
Milner said fact-checking operations were “hard to scale”.
“That’s one of the reasons why we are looking at community notes as an alternative, because it is more straightforward to scale that, than fact-checkers, because fact-checkers have to be authorised by the International Fact-Checking Network,” he said.
“There are limits, their ability to do that, and so we are looking at alternative ways of doing this at scale”.
He did not elaborate on the nature of those “limits”.
Whish-Wilson said he was aware that AAP Fact Check had just three staff.
“Fact-checkers have to be authorised by the International Fact-Checking Network” — Simon Milner
When asked what the “alternative” to fact-checking in Australia would be, Seeto declined to say.
Milner responded: “Community notes” was “the alternative mechanism” that “we are actively testing in the United States”.
“If that is successful, then I expect we would bring that to Australia”.
Climate moves scrapped
Whish-Wilson quoted a September 2021 statement from Meta around its Climate Science Centre.
It cited “new measures aimed at directly addressing climate misinformation”; investing in “new climate grants in partnership with the International Fact-Checking Network to support organisations working to combat climate misinformation”; “increasing reliable information about climate change”; and “elevating climate voices”.
“But all the links on the webpage that was published at the time of this announcement are now dead,” Whish-Wilson said.
“But all the links on the web page…are now dead” — Senator Whish-Wilson
“So does Meta still actively fund and manage its Climate Science Centre?” he asked.
Miller responded: “No, we do not”.
“And why is that the case?” asked Whish-Wilson.
“I was not involved in that that decision…I can take that on notice,” responded Milner.
Last month Milner announced he would be retiring from Meta by June 30, after 14 years with the company.
A letter from Meta to the inquiry dated January 16, notes the inquiry had “twice asked Meta to appear”.
Meta was “unfortunately unable to appear” due to a “scheduling conflict”, writes Mia Garlick, Meta’s regional director for policy for Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.
Committee chair Whish-Wilson concluded Meta’s appearance at the hearing.
“(The) next time the committee asks you appear to explain these things publicly, we shouldn’t have to compel you to appear,” he said.
The inquiry is currently due to provide its final report by March 24.
As you can see from the above, quality independent journalism is vital for our democracy. Please consider supporting us for as little as $10 a month or by making a one-off donation here. You can also support us via PayPal, or by making a direct deposit.
Thank you,
Anthony Klan
Editor, The Klaxon
