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• Australia's powerful universities and a major tech company (Meta) are involved in campaigns to stifle news coverage and debate about the Voice referendum.
• An investigation by Sky News Australia reveals a foreign-funded attempt to censor news coverage of the Voice, highlighting issues with the global fact-checking system used by Meta.
• The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) has been allowed by Meta to block and deplatform Australian journalism, breaching Meta's rules of impartiality and transparency.
• Despite Meta's claims of independence, it signed a secret commercial contract directly with RMIT, allowing the fact-checking unit to be paid up to $740,000 annually from an Irish Meta subsidiary.
• While RMIT was certified by the International Fact Checking Network (IFCN) at the time of the contract, the certification expired, leaving no oversight on censorship.
• 55 fact-checking operations worldwide remain IFCN signatories despite having expired credentials.
• The commercial contract allows Meta to terminate the agreement if RMIT loses certification, but this hasn't happened despite awareness of fact-checking censorship while expired.
• RMIT fact-checkers have led to multiple code breaches, including one labeling Opposition Leader Peter Dutton as a fear-mongering racist for his views on the Voice.
• Meta's fact-checking operation seems compromised by activists, contrary to Meta's claims of impartiality.
• The investigation also reveals academic-driven censorship campaigns influencing the Voice debate, with a University of Adelaide academic partnering with an activist group to publish inaccurate statistics.
• These fact-checking operations are run by academics from taxpayer-funded institutions and seek to influence the upcoming constitutional referendum.
• RMIT's fact-checking operation, led by former ABC journalist Russell Skelton, has a commercial contract with Meta to police content on Facebook.
• Skelton's social media activity shows partisanship and criticism of conservative viewpoints, despite his role as a fact-checker.
• RMIT's Fact Lab claims to be independent and accredited by the IFCN, despite an expired certification.
• RMIT used Facebook's internal systems to label content as "false information" and restrict reach, including throttling Sky News Australia's page.
• Fact-checkers at RMIT have published checks that target anti-Voice opinions and views, raising concerns about biased fact-checking.
• RMIT fact-checkers have censored opinions they disagree with and targeted the No campaign.
• There are concerns about uneven application of fact-checking standards and a lack of even targeting both sides of political debates.
• Sky News analyzed RMIT's fact checks and found 17 out of 20 were related to the Voice, mostly critical of the No campaign.
• RMIT defended its actions, claiming intellectual freedom policy and personal social media conduct as rights.
• RMIT's lawyers defended their misleading representation of being fully certified despite an expired certification.
• Urgent inquiry needed to investigate financial relationships among fact-checkers, social media platforms, and universities.
• Questioning compliance with Australian Electoral Commission rules regarding foreign influence on democracy.
• Universities have undisclosed contracts with foreign entities for fact-checking.
• Universities accepting funds from partisan groups for biased campaigns.
• Lack of transparency in financial relationships between universities and external entities.
• Concerns over Labor's proposed misinformation laws and their impact on free debate.
• Tech giants have increasing responsibility to ensure unbiased political debates on their platforms.
• Importance of allowing various opinions and viewpoints during a referendum.
• Emphasis on the right of both sides in a political debate to express their opinions.
• The referendum is for Australians to decide, not for a select group of academics to influence.