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As Facebook launches videos urging users to ‘think critically’, Reset Australia believes that the platform should do more to tackle rising misinformation.
The social media giant has said that it will publish videos on its channels that will encourage users to improve their media literacy and be more critical of information that is presented to them.
However, Reset Australia’s Director of Tech Policy Dhakshayini Sooriyakumaran stated that the videos put the burden of tackling online misinformation on individual users rather than facing the systemic problem that the social media’s algorithm amplifies misinformation.
“Put simply, social media companies promote, amplify and profit from sensational and extreme content,” said Director Sooriyakumaran.
“Algorithms are designed to amplify content that elicits strongest reactions from us because that is what keeps us glued to our phones and scrolling through platforms so that more value can be extracted from us.”
With this, the organisation has called for the social media platforms to introduce live lists that would act as an early warning system to alert the public to electoral misinformation and disinformation.
Last week, Reset Australia organised a briefing for MPs from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen who warned politicians to stop trusting Facebook.
She stated that Australian policymakers should demand greater transparency on what users are seeing and sharing, in line with Reset Australia’s own Live List policy.
Director Sooriyakumaran said the era of self-regulation was over for social media.
“If we are serious about protecting our democracy and social cohesion from misinformation, disinformation, extremism and polarisation then we urgently need to move away from the current self-regulation model, which allows Big Tech to write their own rules, with no enforcement or penalties for acting against the public interest,” she said.
“Ultimately, we need the transparency of a live list so we can begin to understand what content is being amplified and if certain groups are being targeted – the earlier we can spot misinformation the better chance we have of intervening with accurate information before it takes hold.”
With AAP
Eliza Sayon is an experienced writer who specialises in corporate and government communications. She is the content producer for Public Spectrum, an online knowledge-based platform for and about the Australian public sector.
