Meta Promises To Restrict Fake Content And Deepfakes Ahead Of The Australian Election

Meta states that any deepfake content that violates their policies will be removed (photo: ary/voi)

JAKARTA Meta Platforms, owner of Facebook and Instagram, announced on Tuesday 18 March that their independent fact-checking program in Australia will help detect and remove fake and deepfake content. This step was taken as an effort to limit misinformation ahead of the national election scheduled to take place no later than May.

In a blog post, the social media company stated that any content that could trigger violence or physical harm and interfere with the selection process would be removed. In addition, the spread of misleading content through their platform will be limited.

"When content is denied by fact-checkers, we will label a warning on the content and reduce its distribution in Feed and Explore to make it likely for people to see it smaller," said Cheryl Seeto, Head of Meta Policy in Australia.

Seeto added that the Agence France-Presse news agency and the Australian Associated Press will review content for Meta.

In January 2025, Meta suspended fact-checking programs in the US and eased restrictions on discussions on controversial topics such as immigration and gender identity. The move comes after pressure from conservative groups to make major changes to their approach in managing political content in their services.

In addition to fake content, social media companies are also struggling to stem deepfake videos, photos, or hyper-realistic audio generated through AI algorithms and are presented as original content.

Meta states that any deepfake content that violates their policies will be removed or labeled "changed" and then downgraded on the feed to limit its distribution. Users will also be asked to disclose when they post or share content generated by AI.

"For content that does not violate our policies, we still believe it is important for people to know when the photorealistic content they see is created using AI," said Seeto.

Polls show Australia's election will be tight, with the Liberal-Nasional opposition coalition narrowly ahead of the centre-left and current ruling Labor Party.

Meta's approach in Australia is in line with their efforts to prevent misinformation during recent elections in India, Britain and the United States, Seeto said.

Meta faces some regulatory challenges in Australia, with governments planning to tax big tech companies to compensate for ad revenues they generate from sharing local news content.

Meta and other social media companies must also impose a ban on users under 16 years at the latest this year. These companies are currently discussing with the government on how to implement these restrictions.