Craig Kelly: MP banned from Facebook appointed to parliament?s social media inquiry

The federal MP Craig Kelly - who has been permanently banned from Facebook and criticised for the online distribution of "seriously misleading" information about Covid-19 vaccines - has been appointed to a parliamentary committee looking into social media and online safety.

The appointment has raised eyebrows among other members of the committee after the former Liberal, turned Palmer United party MP, was banned from Facebook and Instagram in April this year over posts promoting hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin and questioning the effectiveness of masks.

In September, the Therapeutic Goods Administration also issued a statement saying its lawyers had written to Kelly over text messages the party had sent to millions of Australians. The TGA alleged the party had breached copyright and demanded it stop distributing "incomplete extracts" of adverse event reports relating to Covid vaccines which the TGA believed could be "seriously misleading".

Kelly has since called for the social media companies to be reined in, and argued Facebook's move was in contempt of parliament and amounted to improper interference.

The then Speaker Tony Smith dismissed that claim, stating there was no evidence that the ban was targeted at Kelly in his capacity as a member of parliament.

Since Kelly joined the United Australia party, YouTube's parent company Google has also faced pressure to remove the party's account. Labor's national secretary, Paul Erickson, wrote to Google in September raising concerns that the UAP was using its platform to undermine confidence in Australia's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, citing videos in which Kelly questioned the safety of Covid vaccines and promoted ivermectin.

The party has spent close to $3m on ads on YouTube since August, far more than any other political party in Australia over the same period.