The prime minister has accused “arrogant” social media companies of ignoring parents’ legitimate concerns for their children, who he said are suffering widespread distress due to the use of online platforms such as Facebook and TikTok.
Anthony Albanese’s remarks on Saturday follow the claims made by social media company Meta in a parliamentary hearing on Friday, when the company claimed social media provides “tremendous benefits” to children.
‘Arrogant’: PM Anthony Albanese is lashing out at social media giants. Credit: The Sydney Morning Herald
The Prime Minister also declared social media platforms should pay news outlets for their content, which features heavily on many platforms, after Meta said it would not renew its commercial agreements, worth about $70 million, with local publishers.
Albanese said social media companies were wilfully ignoring the harms caused on their platforms to children’s mental health, as well as the risk of grooming and abuse.
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“They just show how out of touch, how arrogant and how contemptuous they are of the legitimate concerns that every parent is expressing about this activity,” Albanese told the Sunrise program.
“[Parents] will be despairing about these social media giants saying, ‘nothing to see here, no problem’. Well, there is a problem, and they need to ‘fess up’ to their responsibility.
“Every parent knows that social media can have a damaging impact on the mental health of young people, on social exclusion, on the bullying that can occur online, on grooming that can occur in a dangerous way online as well.”
Albanese also said social media platforms were failing to address the spread of hate speech on their platforms, which he said was a risk to social harmony.