Creators Are Breaking Australian Election Laws, Liberal MP Claims
10 April 2025 | Written by Parker Floris
Abbie Chatfield with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (collage from The Guardian and LiSTNR)
Apparently, Instagram collab posts are a crime … or are they?
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) launched an investigation into creator Abbie Chatfield after Liberal Senator Jane Hume alleged,
"There are some influencers potentially being paid to produce political social media”
In Australia, any media that has been produced by a political entity, not covered under news/editorial exemptions must display an authorisation statement.
“Authorised by the Australian Government, Canberra”
The posts in question were created by Abbie. But since, Ozzy Man (Ethan) and other creators have joined the party—whereby the same video is broadcast on numerous instagram accounts simultaneously.
In this case, Abbie and Ethan uploaded interview clips where they tagged their guests Anthony Albanese (Labor prime minister) and/or Adam Bandt (Greens leader), who accepted and became a collaborator.
If the posts were published from a Labor or Greens account—then collabed with the creators, as well as the politicians having control over the messaging included within—then it would likely need the statement.
But thankfully, the AEC cleared Abbie and by consequence the others of any wrong doing, due to factors like the lack of editorial control and financial payment for the interview and clips.
“So funny the Liberal Party just can’t comprehend maybe younger people, AKA influencers, just fucking hate the Liberal Party”, Abbie responded
YT: Ozzy Man Reviews | Aussie Prime Minister Anthony Albanese Takes the Pub Test
In the clip she continued by highlighting the editorial influence billionaire media oligarchs like Rupert Murdoch have on editorial decisions within their publications, and how anything outside of their control is deemed a threat.
When politicians in Australia are legally allowed to lie in campaign ads in all states but one, and the entire traditional media ecosystem is owned by two corporations—there are probably more important issues to attend to than collab posts by influencers.
In 2020, Australians signed the largest petition in the country’s history demanding a royal commission into media diversity and ownership, and nothing’s happened. If the AEC can investigate creators as quickly as they did, probably about time to do the same with the current media monopolies plaguing the nation.
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