CMT’ers have been busy this last week. We brought together a group of editors from India, Malaysia, Indonesia and The Philippines to exchange information on the problems each of us are experiencing in combatting mis and disinformation.
Not unexpectedly, there was keen interest in the proposed Australian law to provide the independent regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), with new powers to combat online misinformation and disinformation. The bill includes a backstop power for the regulator to impose codes or standards if platforms fail to put policies in place.
Creina Chapman, deputy chair of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, told the editors “It’s all about transparency and holding digital platforms to account on the information they’re holding on their platforms, and which they’re amplifying in some cases. The principle is that platforms should be expected to have policies in place about how they’ll deal with material on their platforms. They should have robust complaints mechanisms for individuals to be able to come to the platforms and be confident that it’s going to be dealt with and the public should be confident that action will be taken where it is necessary.”
Also at the table was Alan Sunderland, former Editorial Policy chief at the ABC, who said resistance to the bill is based on a reflexive opposition to government having any sway over media, and the self-interest of media organisations striving to place themselves as the arbiters of truth and the platforms as hotbeds of mis and disinformation.
For our guest editors, the biggest challenge in trying to contain mis and disinformation is one which shouldn’t surprise anyone. Samar Harlankar of India’s Article 14 online publication pointed out the difficulty in regulating against mis and disinformation when the ruling political parties are key culprits.
“How do you fight disinformation when the very authority that’s to assist and staunch disinformation is the perpetrator? And the government has tools, laws and law enforcement agencies, so it’s very difficult to work against this,” Samar explained.
In Malaysia, the government has decidedly mixed reviews in its disinformation role, especially during fraught election contests. But the Malaysian editors are also working with the Anwar Ibrahim government to ensure it delivers its previous promise of legislating for an industry-run media council that would enable self-regulation and rescind historic censorship laws.
The revived fortunes of dictatorship-era families that now occupy the presidential palaces of the Philippines and Indonesia also left the editors we invited to the forum feeling, at best, ambivalent about the roles their new governments would play against disinformation. There is democratic space and political accountability to defend in Indonesia, said IDN Times editor Uni Lubis, along with curbing disinformation from politicians who’ve won power, which remains a struggle.
Also in this newsletter, Miguel takes a look at a network of AI operated accounts, linked to a Chinese university and a Chinese AI company which have appeared on X (formerly Twitter). The accounts – some 5000 of them – target contentious US narratives on China but also amplify political issues in Australia.
Kieran shares his views on the dwindling sources of funding available to media, which might worsen if the federal government proceeds with its plan to ban gambling advertising on commercial free to air networks. And Sacha puts his spruiking hat on!
Monica Attard, CMT Co-Director
Kean Wong, Co-founder of Malaysia's Centre for Independent Journalism