August 30, 2023
Sky News presenter Peta Credlin says Meta’s decision to suspend its partnership with RMIT’s fact-checking program amid complaints of voice referendum bias has exposed the “sinister use of so-called fact-checking to deny legitimate debate”.
On Tuesday, the tech giant distanced itself from RMIT’s FactLab amid a furore after a “false information” label from “independent fact checkers” was slapped on Credlin’s reports about the Uluru statement posted on Facebook.
Her editorial stated that the Uluru Statement from the Heart was not a single-page document but 26 pages long.
Meta executives said they had suspended their partnership with RMIT FactLab, “effective immediately”, after receiving complaints about bias and unfairness relating to the voice to parliament referendum.
The FactLab’s failure to have a current certification by the International Fact-Checking Network was also blamed for Meta’s decision to suspend ties with FactLab.
Credlin, a columnist at The Australian, said: “It is a vindication of my concerns about a lack of transparency from the Prime Minister and Yes proponents about what a vote for the voice really means, given what we now know is contained in the full Uluru statement.
“It is simply not credible for Uluru co-authors, like Professor Megan Davis and Pat Anderson, to have tried to deny the breadth of the document’s Aboriginal sovereignty ambitions when they have been on the record so comprehensively for over six years.”
She also said this applied to journalists, including ABC host Leigh Sales, who last week said in an email to staff at the public broadcaster that the Uluru statement was a one-page document and they should refute any arguments contrary to this.
The FactLab, which said it worked “hand in hand” with RMIT ABC Fact Check. claimed this month that Credlin’s reporting and commentary about the Uluru statement’s length were incorrect, despite Credlin, receiving a response to a Freedom of Information request from the National Indigenous Australians Agency confirming its length as 26 pages.
Meta’s regional director of policy, Mia Garlick, responded on Tuesday to an inquiry sent by Liberal senator James Paterson questioning the FactLab’s conduct.
“We have recently become aware that one of our Australian fact-checking partners – RMIT – did not have current IFCN accreditation and that there have been complaints made to the IFCN about possible bias or unfairness in some of the fact checks being applied by RMIT with respect to content relating to the upcoming referendum on the voice to parliament,” she said in the correspondence.
“In light of these allegations and the upcoming vote on the voice referendum, we are suspending RMIT as a partner in our fact checking program, effective immediately.”
Senator Paterson wrote to Meta, the owner of Facebook, last Thursday to ask for a full explanation over its conduct, which he described as a “private company interfering with the free speech of Australians”.
In Ms Garlick’s response, she said fact checker organisations must be certified by the IFCN.
Sky News last week revealed RMIT’s certification with the IFCN expired in December.
Despite this, on Tuesday RMIT FactLab said on its website it “works in partnership with Meta as third-party fact-checkers, debunking problematic posts on Facebook and Instagram to help slow the spread of harmful information”.
An RMIT spokeswoman said it stands by its accuracy to date and its IFCN accreditation is being reviewed.
