Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Good. It makes sense that Australia is a place where that work can be done. Many countries will be watching our progress.

Australia must be vigilant about the digital threats to our democracy, both from overseas and, in particular, from extremist organisations here.

In his 1993 speech, Mr Murdoch claimed 'Advances in the technology of telecommunications have proved an unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere.' History hasn't been kind to Mr Murdoch's optimism and it wasn't only him who was optimistic about that. I think many of us, as we were observing the growth of the internet and social media, thought it would be a useful adjunct to enrich our democracy. The spread of social media hasn't been followed by a wave of democratic sentiment across the world. It's fomented a distrust in elected government, wild conspiracy theories, reactionary political movements, including fascism. The fault is not solely with the tech platforms. Some of the media companies have been engaging in exactly that kind of behaviour as well. I have to say that some of the material that Sky News circulated on its platform that was then reinforced across Facebook, posting figures like Lauren Southern and Steve Bannon and wild conspiracy theories about the American election, was enthusiastically posted by some of the people who sit on the other side of the chamber. I'm pleased to say they are not represented there this evening but some of the characters in the LNP circulate that material as well. Of course, that kind of sensationalism, that kind of appeal to a sort of reactionary base element is a result of a deliberate strategy to ride the algorithms of social media. It encourages users to seek out media they already agree with. The feedback loop creates a radicalising effect. There are consequences for this deliberate attempt to write off the spread of conspiracy theories.

Late last year Sky News Australia shared videos across its digital platforms that cast doubt on the result of the American election. There are some still on its YouTube page. One says 'Pennsylvanian postal worker who claims US vote was rigged denied he recanted allegations'—1.1 million views. Another story says there is 'something odd about postal votes which magically materialise for Biden'—an editorial from Alan Jones, 760,000 views. 'US postal service worker alleges potential voter fraud, according to Project Veritas'—nearly 900,000 views. 'Something stinks to high heaven in the US presidential election', from former Senator Bernardi—nearly 800,000 views. The false belief, the deliberately propagated, deliberately misrepresented, often propagated by interests hostile to the interests of the US was directed deliberately towards the insurrection at the US Capitol, which was a direct attempt to overturn the will of millions of American voters. Five people died; 140 were injured. It could indeed have been much worse in casualties or its impact on American democracy.

We can't afford to ignore that the most significant threats to democracy always come from inside. In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote:

… the species of oppression by which democratic nations are menaced is unlike anything that ever before existed in the world; our contemporaries will find no prototype of it in their memories.

The spiralling mix of algorithm and politics is an oppression that has not existed yet in the world. It divides our society in new and complex ways. It undermines our ability to have a shared view of facts and reality, and it radicalises people and movements purely for profit. Responding to it will require long-term leadership, proactive attempts to regulate our public sphere and require accountability from our media for the views that they publish. The code is a start, but there is indeed much more work to do.