‘Global ramifications’: Meta to reduce fact checkers on platforms

Tech Policy Design Centre Founding Director Professor Joanna Weaver said Meta’s move to reduce fact-checkers from its platform will have “global ramifications” and “raises a lot of questions”. Professor Weaver said the biggest question concerns how the US company will operate in Australia and if it will impose US standards of speech. “When we operate and use these platforms in Australia does that mean we are held to US standards of speech,” Ms Weaver told Sky News Australia. “If you’re a company operating in Australia, most Australians have a reasonable expectation that a company operating in Australia complies with Australian laws.” The professor compared the move to the hypothetical scenario of TikTok, owned by a Chinese internet technology company, imposing the Chinese government’s standards of speech on Australian users.