News Corp Australia chair says social media platforms are ‘true monsters’ and ‘torment our children’

Social media is to blame for social cohesion issues across the globe, News Corp Australia’s executive chair, Michael Miller, has said, as he calls for media to present a united front against the platforms and AI companies seeking content for free. Miller told the Melbourne Press Club on Wednesday social media was rife with “misinformation, disinformation [and] the rabbit holes [that] they drag you down. “And I don’t think the masses are being radicalised, but I do feel that there are individuals that get consumed by single message rather than breadth of message,” he said. “I think the role of media is increasingly as a group to ensure that people are informed and it’s based on fact.” Sign up: AU Breaking News email Social media platforms, Miller said, do “nothing more than tear and fray the social fabric.” “They are the true monsters at our gates, and our content is crucial to their success. It should not be taken or given away for free.” Miller pointed to the regulatory response to the Optus triple zero outage in September. “Where is the same level of accountability being demanded for social media companies whose algorithms torment our children, prey on the elderly and are responsible for the rise of self-harm and also loss of life?” “How can there be one set of rules for a company like Optus, while the tech companies just refuse our rules?” Miller called for the federal government to rule out changing Australian copyright law to give a text and data mining exemption for artificial intelligence companies to train on copyrighted work without paying media companies, film studios, artists or authors. The tech companies have been lobbying the government for a new exemption in copyright law, which the productivity commission has consulted on in recent months. Miller said such an exemption would “legitimise theft” and the claim it is needed to attract billions of dollars in investment in datacentres based in Australia is “without foundation and without evidence”. “How is it that the tech lobby has put so little effort into quantifying the benefits to back their claim when the cost they are seeking to impose on us is so high and so quantifiable?” Miller said media organisations had much in common and needed to present a more united front in what he termed the second “big steal” of tech companies – accessing content for free (the first being advertising moving from news media to social media). “I think we’ve all got 90% of what we do is in common … but too often we point out our differences to the detriment of our own reputations,” he said. “And we look like an industry divided rather than one which is cohesive and understand that we do have a common issue which is fundamental to our survival as an industry.” Miller also said the under 16s social media ban – which News Corp campaigned for – “must be adhered to” when it commences on 10 December. The executive chair responded to a question on whether Australia could face retaliatory action from the Trump administration in the US, should US tech companies face regulations such as the news media bargaining incentive, stating that foreign companies operating in the US are expected to abide by US law, and companies operating in Australia are expected to abide by Australian law. “I don’t think it’s any more complicated than that.”