Meta Oversight Board has announced that they will be looking into the handling of potentially misleading posts shared during the Australian Voice referendum in 2023. Meta, the social media giant, owns and operates both Facebook and Instagram.
In the events leading up to the referendum, two Facebook users shared partial information from a series of interconnected posts by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) on the social media platform X. This partial information was about the possibility of individuals voting more than once. The original series of AEC posts make it clear, however, that multiple voting is indeed an electoral fraud offense.
Meta confirmed that the misleading posts were identified proactively, underwent review, and were ultimately removed, being found to be in violation of the company’s policy on Coordinating Harm and Promoting Crime. This policy explicitly disallows guiding, detailing, or showcasing intent to illegally take part in a voting or census process, among other violations.
During its inquiry, the Meta Oversight Board seeks public input on the following topics:
- The socio-historical context of the 2023 Indigenous Voice to Parliament Referendum in Australia
- Any relevant context or history of voter fraud in Australia
- The dissemination of content related to voter fraud, false or misleading information about voting, elections, and constitutional referenda across social media platforms
- Content moderation policies and enforcement practices, including fact-checking, on misleading, contextualised and/or voter fraud-related content
The Board has chosen these cases in order to examine Meta’s content moderation policies and practices concerning false or misleading voting information and voter fraud, particularly in light of 2024’s significant number of elections.
Last year, Australians rejected the proposal to recognise the country’s First Nations people through the establishment of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in the Australian Constitution. After the failed referendum, there have been suggestions that misleading information and disinformation might have had an impact on the outcome.
The Human Rights Law Centre, among other human rights advocates, has called for stronger social media regulation to tackle this problem. They responded to the decision of the referendum by advocating for “strong laws to prevent an exponential spread of disinformation and misinformation from taking over our democracy.”
The decision made by the Meta Oversight Board on the matter will be binding and they may further issue policy recommendations. Meta is obliged to respond to such recommendations within 60 days. Over the coming weeks, the Board will deliberate on the cases and publish their final decisions on its website.