The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is reviewing collaborative Instagram posts made by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt and media juggernaut Abbie Chatfield to determine whether the social media posts should be considered political content.
As it stands, whenever there is a message or statement about an electoral or political matter that is not shared by traditional news media, it must be authorised by the AEC. That’s why, after a political ad, you’ll see the black screen with a message declaring who created or funded the messaging.
In this case, the AEC is trying to discern whether the videos shared across the podcaster’s social media accounts and the politicians’ count as news opinion or a political endorsement.
The content with Albanese shared across Chatfield’s socials was created from an interview with the Labor leader on her podcast, It’s A Lot. The whole interview covered many of Labor’s policies. However, the videos shared across social media included discussions about Labor’s medicare policies and criticism of the Coalition’s health policies.
Meanwhile, there are also collaborative posts with Bandt from a DJ event called “Vote”.
It’s worth noting that Chatfield has been upfront about inviting opposition leader Peter Dutton on her podcast, yet he turned down the opportunity.
According to acting electoral commissioner Jeff Pope, the posts are currently under review by the AEC.
“We’d have to look and see whether content was being produced of the own volition of the person who’s the influencer or [if there] is another buying, potentially using that as advertising and promotional content,” he said, per the Sydney Morning Herald.
Speaking to PEDESTRIAN.TV, Chatfield clarified that she was not paid to conduct the interviews or post the videos on social media.
“I definitely was not paid by either party to create content,” she said.
“We were asking Bandt and Albanese for months to come on the podcast, and they had zero say in the content of the podcast or the posts I made.”
PEDESTRIAN.TV has reached out to the AEC for comment.
