Meta tells Indigenous inquiry it has no content moderators in Australia

Meta has told a Senate inquiry probing the extent of racism against First Nations Australians it is "not aware" whether any of its content moderators are Indigenous.Australia's Human Rights Commission and Indigenous advocacy groups have previously told the inquiry online hatred against Indigenous people has increased since the failed 2023 referendum to create an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.Appearing at a public hearing in Brisbane, representatives for the tech giant said they did not believe there were any First Nations people employed as content moderators.A content moderator is responsible for responding to posts which violate the company's content policies.Mia Garlick, left, gave evidence at the inquiry. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)Facebook director of policy for Australia and New Zealand Mia Garlick also said none of the company's content moderators were based in Australia, although "some" were Australian."I find it pretty extraordinary that you don't have any of your moderators in Australia to fully appreciate the Australian experience of racism," Senator Jana Stewart said."And I find that at odds with your comments that you take these matters really seriously."Meta's Australia and New Zealand head of policy, Cheryl Seeto, told the inquiry the company had created an advisory group designed to combat online hate which included people from First Nations communities."We also have within that group a number of experts who are academics or researchers," she said."And we meet with that group once or twice a year and really draw on their expertise and advice as we work to make sure we're applying locally appropriate enforcement on our policies."Senator Jana Stewart, centre, speaks with Meta representatives at the inquiry. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)Meta defends content moderation policiesDuring the hearing, Meta was repeatedly accused of failing to respond effectively to anti-Indigenous content on its platforms, including by not removing posts quickly enough that violated its hateful conduct policy.Ms Garlick defended the company's record on responding to racist posts and drew the inquiry's attention to how it approached the Voice referendum in 2023."We expanded our Australia-specific slurs list, we created specific policy guidance for content reviewers," she said."We also provided a funding boost to our third-party fact checkers to increase their capacity and coordinated with the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Electoral Commission."The inquiry was launched after the attempted alleged bombing of an Invasion Day rally in Perth this year. (ABC News: Cason Ho)Concerns over data gapsThe inquiry also heard evidence not enough data was being collected about the extent of racist incidences against Indigenous Australians.Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss told the inquiry requirements to monitor institutional racism under Australia's latest Closing the Gap agreement had not been implemented.Katie Kiss addressed the inquiry in Brisbane. (ABC News)"Priority area three of that agreement is to eradicate racism across our governments, across our systems, across our services," she said."That includes monitoring the eradication of racism across all systems … we don't have that in place five years into that national agreement and there's not a lot of evidence that action is happening."The inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is set to hear more evidence this week in Cairns and Thursday Island in the Torres Strait.