Sydney, Australia - July 11, 2023 - Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has told an Australian inquiry that it will label government-affiliated accounts on its new Twitter-like platform Threads.

The announcement comes as Australia is considering legislation that would give the government greater powers to regulate social media companies. The legislation would require social media companies to label government-affiliated accounts and to remove content that is deemed to be harmful or misleading.

Meta's head of public policy for Australia, Josh Machin, told the Senate inquiry that the company supports the government's efforts to regulate social media. He said that Meta is "committed to working with the government to ensure that our platforms are used for good."

Machin said that Meta plans to label government-affiliated accounts on Threads "expeditiously." He said that the company is also working on ways to label government-affiliated accounts on Facebook and Instagram.

The announcement by Meta is a positive step towards ensuring that government-affiliated accounts are transparent about their identity. This will help users to make informed decisions about the information that they consume on social media.

It is important to note that Meta's plans to label government-affiliated accounts are still in the early stages. It is not yet clear how the company will implement the labels or how they will be displayed to users.

However, the announcement by Meta is a sign that the company is taking the issue of government interference on social media seriously. It is a positive step towards ensuring that social media platforms are used for good and that users are protected from harmful or misleading content.

In other news:

• The Australian government is considering legislation that would give the government greater powers to regulate social media companies.
• Meta has also been facing criticism for its handling of the recent outage of Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Whatsapp.
• The company has said that it is working to understand what caused the outage and to prevent it from happening again.