Facebook is under pressure in Australia to take down a page that insults
Aborigines with the government accusing the social networking company
of using its U.S. base to avoid Australian anti-discrimination laws.
The
Aboriginal Memes Facebook page has created a furor in Australia this
week with its depictions of indigenous Australians as drunks and welfare
cheats.
Australia's media watchdog, the Australian Communications
and Media Authority, is investigating complaints about the page and
Race Discrimination Commissioner Helen Szoke said it could breach
Australian anti-discrimination laws.
Communications Minister
Stephen Conroy said late Wednesday his office had called on Facebook's
Sydney office to take the page down.
But he said the page had
recently been reclassified "controversial humor" and that Facebook
maintained it did not adjudicate on humor.
Conroy said the creator
of the page, whom he believed was a 16-year-old Australian living in
the west coast city of Perth, was getting around Australian
anti-discrimination laws through U.S. guarantees of free speech.
"We
don't live by American laws here in Australia; we live by Australian
laws and this is an Australian who is using the fact that Facebook is
based in the U.S. to get away from Australian laws," Conroy told
Australian Broadcasting Corp. television.
"Facebook should take this site down," he added.
He
said Australia had tried to get Australian court orders enforced in the
U.S. against Facebook and other websites in the past, but "we've got
nowhere."
Facebook said in a statement issued by its Sydney office
that it sometimes restricts access to content that violates local law
and was engaged in a constructive dialogue with Szoke.
"We believe
that sharing information and the openness that results invites
conversation, debate and greater understanding. At the same time we
recognize that some content that is shared may be controversial,
offensive or even illegal in some countries," the statement said.
Some offensive images disappeared from the page Wednesday and all were gone by Thursday.
The
controversy comes after Australia's advertising watchdog ruled that
companies were responsible for comments left on their Facebook pages by
members of the public.
The Advertising Standards Bureau said
Australia-based Carlton & United Breweries, also known as CUB, could
be held responsible for "lewd and crude" comments posted on a Facebook
beer fan page because it constituted advertising. The comments breached
alcohol advertising guidelines by connecting alcohol with social or
sexual prowess and promoted excessive drinking, the bureau said.
The
ruling has far-reaching consequences for companies' use of social media
and raises questions about the culpability of enterprises outside
Australia that inadvertently breach Australian laws via the Internet.
CUB
told AP in a statement Wednesday that while it did not consider user
comments to be advertising, it would not appeal the decision.
The brewery will monitor public comments more closely and remove inappropriate ones, it said.
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Further reading:
Agriculture,
Alcoholic beverage manufacturing,
Australia,
beverage and tobacco products manufacturing,
Beverage manufacturing,
Business,
Consumer product manufacturing,
Consumer products and services,
Facebook,
Food,
food and beverage manufacturing,
Industries,
Media,
North America,
Oceania,
Online media,
Social,
Stephen Conroy,
United States
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