Source : THE AGE NEWS
The Liberal Party has removed a social media post after a Gold Coast influencer threatened to sue the Federal opposition for allegedly twisting a pro-Greens video to attack the minor party.
Holly MacAlpine posted a video in March, posing a “true or false” statement to Greens senator Larissa Waters, which was edited by the Liberal Party’s official TikTok page to appear critical of the party.
Greens Senator Larissa Waters, left, with content creator Holly MacAlpine.
Legal representatives for MacAlpine sent a concerns notice to the Liberal Party on Tuesday evening over the video, the initial step in defamation proceedings. The letter also included allegations her moral rights were infringed by subjecting her to derogatory treatment, an infringement of copyright in repurposing the content.
The post in question took a five-second grab from a video in late March, cutting the statement “the Greens just protest, they don’t actually get anything done” (which required an answer) and presenting it alone as a statement of fact, followed by an official party authorisation.
The post was removed on Wednesday morning, shortly after a Coalition spokesperson told this masthead that “the Liberal Party will consider any legal letters and respond in due course”.
MacAlpine instructed Jake Blundell, partner at specialist defamation and copyright firm BHF, to write to the Liberal Party. She launched a GoFundMe page to help with her discounted legal fees after the Opposition party had repeatedly denied requests to remove the post, and reached her target of $2000 within hours, she said.
“Political parties shouldn’t be able to take creator content, manipulate it, and then dismiss requests to take it down, especially when the intention and message have been clearly distorted,” she told this masthead before the post was taken down.
“The response from the Liberal Party so far has been completely dismissive, and that has only added insult to injury.
“At the end of the day, this is a major political party targeting a private citizen, and the power imbalance there should raise serious alarm bells.”
MacAlpine has an online following of 120,000 on TikTok and 29,000 on Instagram, posting under the handle HollyUnmuted. She is among influencers who have emerged as new players in the election cycle, introducing a new wave of political communications through social platforms, with media personalities giving their audiences direct access to political figures and perspectives.
MacAlpine’s content reaches hundreds of thousands of Australians, many of whom are young voters engaging with politics for the first time, she said. Altering her post made a mockery of young people, she added, and showed a “deep lack of respect” for the views of young Australians trying to engage in politics, and in particular young women demanding to be taken seriously in political conversations.
However, the rising influence of online personalities, and Australians viewing political messages through social media, have blurred the lines between news media and social content – the latter unbound by media codes or ethics such as impartiality, with a perception it can lead to “softball” interviews or politically partisan content. It has fed further perceptions that some content is more collaborative with politicians than objective, in turn testing Australia’s electoral laws.
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) cleared podcast host and influencer Abbie Chatfield over potential breaches of electoral laws after interviews with Labor and Greens leaders Anthony Albanese and Adam Bandt, investigating whether the content should have had an authorisation message attached.
Chatfield has urged her followers and listeners to preference the Greens on their ballot papers, and position Labor ahead of the Liberal Party. This month, it was also revealed that independent MP Allegra Spender and funding vehicle Climate 200 paid Milly Rose Bannister to create content without clearly flagging it had been paid for. The Liberal Party wrote to the AEC, questioning some of Bannister’s posts.
In March, influencers were allowed into the Federal Budget lock-up in Canberra for the first time, and it later emerged that the Labor Party had covered some of their travel expenses.
Australia’s electoral laws require a clear disclosure if content is authorised by an official political party; however, authorisation is not required by news media outlets.
Olympic diver Sam Fricker, who has 2.1 million TikTok followers, has turned his online success toward political content, interviewing Opposition leader Peter Dutton and energy minister Chris Bowen. Over the weekend, he posted content from a coming interview with Trumpet of Patriots chair, billionaire Clive Palmer.
Fricker flew to the mining magnate’s Palmer Coolum Resort, currently being renovated, at his own expense. However he told this masthead he stayed at the resort free of charge, which was not disclosed in the content. The content features multiple images of Trumpet of Patriots posters, despite being labelled as business content.
