Unattributed attack ads targeting Labor on Chinese-language WeChat fuel fears of misinformation

Attack ads targeting Labor are being published without any authorisation or party attribution on the Chinese-language social networking platform, WeChat, raising concerns that misinformation could be circulating without oversight.

A volunteer-run campaign against Labor conducted on WeChat during the 2016 election is thought to have been instrumental flipping the Labor-held seat of Chisholm to Liberal MP Julia Banks. During the 2019 campaign, Labor complained to WeChat about a high volume of misleading anti-Labor material, some of which could be traced back to Liberal Party members.

There are about 3 million users of WeChat in Australia; Australian Financial News is a mid-tier site, with stories attracting between 10,000 to 20,000 readers.

Accompanying the ads are highly flattering news stories about Frydenberg, which have appeared on multiple websites.

There is no such agency in Australia.

The AEC said it takes a graduated approach to enforcement, noting that most authorisation matters can be technical in nature.

Whether this will translate into a rush towards Labor remains to be seen, but the community will likely play a critical role in a raft of vigorously contested seats: Chisholm, Deakin and Kooyong in Victoria, and Reid, Parramatta, Banks, North Sydney and Bennelong in NSW.

Martin Ma is the editor-in-chief of Sydney Today/Melbourne Today, which is among the most popular and influential Chinese-language online publications in Australia.

While online polls can be manipulated through multiple voting by people with vested interests, and they do not adjust for demographics who are not regularly online, a recent Sydney Today poll showed that in early voting 77% of respondents were favouring Labor, and nearly half said they would change their vote this time. The poll has been running since 29 April.

Sydney Today has been publishing regular stories about the election that it considers relevant to its audience. Many stories are translations of articles from English-language media or compilations of articles.