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Leading tech companies grilled on online safety

Eliza Sayon Jan 24, 2022

2 min read

Leading tech companies have been grilled by a parliamentary committee on their policies and guidelines that are aimed to keep users safe online.

With the Australian Government wanting to introduce laws that will force social media platforms to take down offending posts and reveal the identity of anonymous posters, representatives from Google, TikTok and Meta were questioned over the laws that would hold them accountable for online harassment and abuse.

During the questioning, the tech companies stated that they have a commercial interest in keeping Australians safe online as they would lose users if they were unable to do so.

Google Australia representative Lucinda Longcroft said the company guidelines took into account the context when assessing online content.

“While I might personally find content objectionable, our guidelines are enforced by trained trust and safety employees who look both at the nature of the material … and the context,” she said.

Meanwhile, Labor MP Tim Watts questioned Ms Longcroft on Google’s “three strikes” policy for YouTube, where accounts that post content against company guidelines three times are closed.

He referenced nine complaints he had made against videos on the United Australia Party’s YouTube channel, in which six videos were taken down but the account was still active.

Ms Longcroft replied to the question by stating that a number of complaints are made at the same time are bundled into one “strike”.

Meanwhile, Meta policy head Mia Garlick said any reports Facebook put profits above the safety of their users are “categorically untrue”.

“Safety is at the core of our business,” she told the committee.

But UAP MP Craig Kelly, who was banned from Facebook in 2021 for posting misleading content about COVID-19, said Meta had “blood on their hands” for stopping information on treatments for the virus from being posted.

Ms Garlick replied by stating that Facebook would take the same action against a user whether or not they were a public figure.

“Where it comes to harmful health misinformation (our policies) are applied across the board regardless of who is making the claims,” she said.

With AAP

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.