Anthony Albanese defends tough social media policy as Meta cozies up with Donald Trump

Anthony Albanese has doubled down on his controversial social media ban for under 16s, as social media giant Meta takes aim at ‘censorship’ and cozies up to the incoming Trump administration.

The Prime Minister denied he was worried the age restrictions could “inadvertently” pick a fight with Donald Trump, after Mark Zuckerberg made comments suggesting Governments around the world had been hampering free speech.

Mr Albanese said the policy — backed by the Federal Coalition — was ultimately one made by Australia for Australians.

“My Government will stand up for Australia’s interests,” he told ABC News.

X owner Elon Musk, a close ally of the incoming President, has hit out at Mr Albanese’s social media ban in the past, but the PM on Wednesday reiterated it was “sensible reform” that was now law.

Under the legislation, social media companies will be responsible for restricting minors from accessing the platforms.

“I know our strong action is being watched right around the world because other leaders that I’ve spoken to have indicated that they applaud the fact that Australia has taken this action,” Mr Albanese said.

His defence came after Mr Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder and Meta CEO,overnight announced third-party fact-checkers on Facebook, Instagram and Threads would be shunted in favour of user-added notes — similar to the system Elon Musk has employed at X — ahead of Mr Trump’s inauguration.

Meta said the move would allow more free speech, crack down on censorship, and take a more personalised approach to political content, and would be a return to the company’s founding values.

“Recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritising speech,” Mr Zuckerberg said, adding that factcheckers have just been “too politically biased”.

He also suggested Governments around the world had been emboldened by the outgoing US president to “go after us and other American companies”.

“We’re going to work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more,” Mr Zuckerberg said.

Despite concerns by watchdogs, Mr Trump, who had threatened Mr Zuckerberg with “life in prison” in August after the CEO admitted his company took down content under pressure from the Biden administration during the pandemic and the 2020 election cycle, welcomed Meta’s announcement.

Asked at a wide-ranging press conference if Meta had made so many rapid changes to appease him, Mr Trump said “probably”.

The move coincided with Meta appointing Dana White, the president and CEO of the UFC and a good friend of Mr Trump, to the tech giant’s board.

Back at home, acting Greens leader Sarah Hanson-Young, the party’s communications spokeswoman, said Meta’s decision would result in a “free for all on misinformation and disinformation”.

She accused Mr Zuckerberg of bowing down to the incoming president, and “making big profits at the expense of community safety”.

“What Mr Zuckerberg has announced similar to what, of course, Elon Musk had done a couple of years ago, is to rip the rug of any type of decency out from underneath users and allow … whoever is the loudest, whoever is the angriest, whoever is the most outrageous, to have their views heard,” she told ABC Radio.

She said the emerging alliance between tech giants and Mr Trump was a “really worrying sign” that would have broader effect.

She added she wouldn’t be surprised if Mr Musk “starts platforming the nasty side of Australian politics, and even starts to platform (Peter) Dutton more than Anthony Albanese”.