Jobs on the line as media chiefs unite in stinging rebuke of Meta

Top executives from Australia’s three largest commercial media companies have warned of job cuts across newsrooms if Facebook and Instagram’s parent Meta fails to renew the deals struck with publishers under the media bargaining code.

On Friday, a trio of executives from Nine, News Corp and Seven West Media slammed the “toxic” impact of social media on Australian democracy and society, pointing to the growing incidence of trolling, political interference, scams and blackmail.

Speaking at the Social Media and Australian Society inquiry in Canberra, the executives argued the federal government should impose further regulations on social media platforms, including the potential expulsion of Facebook from Australia if Meta failed to comply with local laws and values.

“We cannot be scared to designate the platforms that refuse to recognise our sovereign laws,” Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby said. He added that the consumption of news content on social media had never been greater, with views of Nine video content across Meta’s platforms now totalling about 5 billion a year.

Sneesby was joined by News Corp Australasia executive chair Michael Miller and Seven West Media chief executive Jeff Howard at the first session of the parliamentary committee, which was called in May after Meta said it would not renew its commercial agreements with local publishers.

Meta signed the agreements with Australian news outlets in 2021 following the introduction of a bargaining code. They are due to expire this year.

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Miller said Meta’s claim that news accounted for just 3 per cent of what users saw on the platform was “misinformation”, referencing a recent study by the University of Canberra and Reuters that found 48 per cent of Australians had accessed news on a Meta platform in the past month.

He added that Meta was “preparing to blackmail” media organisations and the federal government by refusing to renew its deals for news content.