Some of the world's biggest tech companies have been grilled on the policies and guidelines they say aim to keep users safe online.
Representatives from Google, TikTok and Meta - the company which owns Facebook and Instagram - were questioned on Thursday by a parliamentary committee over proposed laws that would hold them accountable for online harassment and abuse on their platforms.
The federal government wants to introduce the laws that would force social media platforms to take down offending posts and, in some circumstances, reveal the identity of anonymous posters.
Social media companies say they have a commercial interest in keeping Australians safe online because otherwise they would lose users.
But Reset Australia - an organisation working to address digital threats to Australian democracy - says the public don't want safety issues to be left to social media companies to regulate.
Data policy director Rys Farthing said social media companies needed to be legally held to account for the risks their platforms create, particularly for children.
"When you hold companies account for the risks they are creating you see platforms changing the way they develop and release their products where safety and risk reduction are more central," she said.
Google Australia representative Lucinda Longcroft said when assessing content on their platforms, the company guidelines took the context into account.
"While I might personally find content objectionable, our guidelines are enforced by trained trust and safety employees who look both at the nature of the material ... and the context," she said.
Labor MP Tim Watts questioned Ms Longcroft on Google's "three strikes" policy for YouTube, where accounts that post content against company guidelines three times are closed.
He referenced nine complaints he had made against videos on the United Australia Party's YouTube channel.
He said six videos were taken down as a result of the complaints but the account was still active.
Ms Longcroft said if a number of complaints are made at the same time they are bundled into one "strike".
Meanwhile, Meta policy head Mia Garlick said any reports Facebook put profits above the safety of their users are "categorically untrue".
"Safety is at the core of our business," she told the committee.
UAP MP Craig Kelly - who was banned from Facebook in 2021 for posting misleading content about COVID-19 - said the company had "blood on their hands" for stopping information on treatments for the virus from being posted.
But Ms Garlick said Facebook would take the same action against a user whether or not they were a public figure.
"Where it comes to harmful health misinformation (our policies) are applied across the board regardless of who is making the claims," she said.
Australian Associated Press
