16 Sep 2024 - Better safe than scrolling?

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G’day… Claire Kimball here. 

As you might know, The Squiz is part 3 of my career to date. Kate Watson and I talked about our past lives and blowing it all up to go headfirst into this fun adventure - you can listen to that here. But in summary, in part 1 of my working life, I was an adviser/press secretary in federal politics, and part 2 was spent in corporate communications, working with some of our biggest businesses. 

I’m lucky enough to have enjoyed it all - and for today’s purposes, my experience has given me some insights into one of the topics du jour - the impact of the social media and tech platforms on our society and Aussie news publishers. 

We’ve talked about that a bit this year, sparked by Meta ruling out making any new agreements with publishers for news that’s posted on Facebook and Instagram. The Squiz wasn’t a beneficiary of deals with Meta and Google following the former Coalition’s formation of the News Media Bargaining Code in 2021, but we are deeply interested in what comes next. 

I am on the board of the Digital Publishers Alliance - an industry association of 60+ independent Aussie publishers led by Tim Duggan (former co-founder of Junkee) and alongside Nick Shelton (founder of Broadsheet). Together, we made our third trip to Canberra since the start of the year on Monday last week to get an update on where things are at from the key people in Parliament House and in the bureaucracy. 

What we were told by the Albanese Government is that announcements are imminent - but there’s a lot to juggle. That’s because, since our first meetings in February, not only has Meta made the call not to pay for news on its platforms, but we’ve seen Google and others stepping further into AI, and there were the stabbing attacks in Sydney that highlighted (yet again) the dangers of mis and disinformation online. Scams are everywhere, and there’s been a push to stop kids from signing up for social media accounts. 

The former political staffer in me is understanding of the battle to make sense of all of that via a public policy response. But the former corporate communications adviser also understands why the companies aren’t moving proactively - they’re waiting for the government to set the rules. 

You’re someone who cares about the news and information you consume, so here are some News Club picks to help you make sense of where some of these things are at:

1. The Albanese Government did make a move towards age verification to stop kids aged under 16yo (or maybe 14yo…) from signing up for social media accounts last week. But as this explainer from The Guardian points out, it’s tricky… “No countries have implemented an age verification mandate without issue,” it says. 

2. Also last week, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland introduced legislation to deal with mis and disinformation. It’s another tricky one, as independent Senator David Pocock explains. "In Australia, without a human rights act or some sort of Bill of Rights that enshrines freedom of expression, we have to tread carefully when we start talking about policing misinformation and people's views,” he said in this interview last week. 

3. This opinion piece in this morning’s Australian (paywall) from the Coalition’s Communications spokesman David Coleman. He’s a former big-time media executive, and he knows the space well. In it, he gives the Albanese Government a hurry on to deal with Meta’s decision to pull payments for Aussie news - he says “the future of Australian journalism is at stake.” 

4. And I can’t not take the opportunity to highlight our own work… Squiz Kids’ Newshounds program is world-leading in helping kids become critical consumers of the information coming at them online. As our Kids’ team leader Bryce Corbett said in this interview with expert Professor Tanya Notley, it’s “a really big hole in the education of these kids that needed to be filled.”

We’re continuing to push for funding support for Newshounds from our governments and acknowledge the support Google has provided for it to date. We can’t think of a better or more important way to do our bit. 

Your friend in news

Claire Kimball

Got questions?

Hit reply with everything you’re dying to know. You can also DM us on Insta @thesquiz - we’re all ears.

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