Webinar: Regulating Facebook

Presented by the Social Innovation Research Institute, Swinburne. Facebook gained worldwide media attention for banning Australians from accessing news on its platform in response to the Australian Federal Government’s news media code legislation, which requires digital platforms to pay news media companies whose content they host. Facebook’s hardball approach to legislation is perhaps a signal of their concern about a legislative precedent being set for regulation of Facebook worldwide. Australia’s Digital Platform Inquiry promises more legislation to come, and other countries are actively debating how best to regulate big platforms. This panel of media tech and policy experts discusses the opportunities and pitfalls of platform regulation and potential impacts on users, chaired by Dr Diana Bossio. Professor Flew will discuss the relationship between regulation and governance, and what it means for digital platforms to become objects of media regulation. Dr Barnet will discuss platform responses to introduction of legislation and broader relationships between platforms and government in Australia. Professor Leaver will discuss who won the ‘PR’ battle during the Facebook-imposed news blackout. Dr Meese will discuss the limited scope of news-oriented regulation like Australia’s NMBC and advocate for alternative regulatory interventions.