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Facebook ‘completely hopeless and negligent’: Tracey Spicer

Social media giants need to admit they are publishers and news outlets, and do more to protect their users and consumers, Tracey Spicer has urged.

Spicer was particularly critical of Facebook, which she says is being dragged “kicking and screaming” towards regulation and was “completely hopeless and negligent” in a case she took to the police.

Tanya Hennessy, Tracey Spicer, Virginia Trioli and Jonathon Moran on stage at Radio Alive 2018

“I would like to see the social media companies take responsibility, because I have actually dealt closely, particularly with Facebook with this police case, and they have been completely hopeless and negligent, so I think they need to step up to the plate,” she said.

Spicer referenced various police cases throughout the Q&A session at Friday’s Radio Alive conference, noting she has referred death threats and trolling on social media platforms to the authorities.

Part of the issue, she said, is how the corporations view themselves within the ecosystem.

“I think [that more regulation is required] – with Facebook and Twitter in particular – because they say that they’re platforms, but, let’s face it, they’re also publishers, they are news outlets as well,” she said.

Facebook gets the thumbs down from Spicer

The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph’s entertainment editor Jonathon Moran said the other issue was the organisation’s elusiveness.

Spicer acknowledged the issue would be difficult to tackle locally.

“It’s a global issue,” she said. “It’s something we can’t really address in Australia. I think they need to be taken to task on it.”

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