Australia vs the Internet
You’re not losing your mind, the internet is different now.
The 2025 Australian federal election will be the first in a decade where news isn’t readily available on social media, and there’s no effort to fact check or moderate what is there. The billionaires behind the major tech platforms aren’t just background characters in politics anymore; they’re centre stage, making decisions around misinformation, bankrolling candidates, generating content that aligns with their own ideology and broadcasting it to the masses.
Not only has the fight against misinformation online been lost, sometimes social media feels entirely divorced from reality. While the United States government has been incapable of regulating the tech giants, and now seems to have been taken over by them, Australia has made multiple attempts to push back.
In this series from If You’re Listening, Australia vs the Internet looks at Australia’s attempts to rein in big tech, and how it's shaping the Australian election.
First episode drops Thursday 24th April.
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Transcript
We're in the midst of a deeply strange series of elections around the world, and currently the battleground is Canada and Australia.
One of the key campaign issues is this guy.
I'm telling you, these countries are calling us up, kissing my ass.
They are dying to make a deal.
Please, please, sir, make a deal.
I'll do anything.
I'll do anything, sir.
Lately, seeming at all similar to Donald Trump is being seen as a bad thing for voters.
This is Doji Dutton taking his cues, his instructions and his policies straight from the US.
And yet much of the discussion we are having about these elections is taking place on platforms run by men who sat in the front row of Donald Trump's inauguration.
The thing that you can't find is news from trusted media sources.
The thing you can find is truckloads of misinformation.
With a federal election just around the corner, there are concerns about the impact AI could have on young voters.
But this is actually quite new.
When Canada and Australia last went to the polls, the social media environment in both countries was very different.
Both governments were enacting legislation meant to constrain what could be said on social media platforms.
Meanwhile, the platforms themselves were wrestling with who they should and should not allow to post on their sites.
Since then, the relationship between big tech, the media, and the government in both countries has come under serious strain.
I've spoken to thousands thousands of parents.
They, like me, are worried sick about the safety of our kids online.
These companies have snubbed their noses at governments in the United States, Canada, Britain, New Zealand, Australia for many, many years.
The European Union, I think, has had a gut full as well.
Social media is doing harm to our kids, and I'm calling time on it.
So as these elections arrive, we're going to take a look at what went wrong.
why things fell apart and whether the new governments on each side of the Pacific can get any measure of control over the situation while Donald Trump is in office.
From If You're Listening, this is Australia versus the Internet.
The first episode lands on April 24th.
Find it right here in your podcast feed.
