Meta tells Indigenous inquiry it has no content moderators in Australia

Meta grilled over lack of Indigenous content moderators at racism inquiry Tue 28 Jul 2026 at 2:53pm In short: A national inquiry examining racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has heard from Facebook and Instagram's parent company Meta. Meta representatives told the inquiry they were "not aware" of any First Nations content moderators in the organisation. What's next? The inquiry will hold its final hearings in Cairns and Thursday Island this week, with a report due later this year. Meta has revealed it is "not aware" whether any of its content moderators are Indigenous at a senate inquiry probing the extent of racism against First Nations Australians. Australia's Human Rights Commission and Indigenous advocacy groups have previously told the inquiry online hatred against Indigenous people has increased since the failed 2023 referendum to create an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Appearing at a public hearing in Brisbane, representatives for the tech-giant revealed they didn't believe there were any First Nations people employed as content moderators. A content moderator is responsible for responding to posts which violate the company's content policies. Facebook Director of Policy for Australia and New Zealand Mia Garlick also revealed none of the company's content moderators were based in Australia, although "some" were Australian. "I find it pretty extraordinary that you don't have any of your moderators in Australia to fully appreciate the Australian experience of racism," Senator Jana Stewart said. "And I find that at odds with your comments that you take these matters really seriously." Meta's Australia and New Zealand Head of Policy Cheryl Seeto told the inquiry the company had created an advisory group designed to combat online hate which included people from First Nations communities. "We also have within that group a number of experts who are academics or researchers," she said. "And we meet with that group once or twice a year and really draw on their expertise and advice as we work to make sure, we're applying locally appropriate enforcement on our policies." Meta defends content moderation policies During the hearing, Meta was repeatedly accused of failing to respond effectively to anti-Indigenous content on its platforms, including by not removing posts which violate its hateful conduct policy quickly enough. Ms Garlick defended the company's record on responding to racist posts and drew the inquiry's attention to how it approached the Voice referendum in 2023. "We expanded our Australia-specific slurs list, we created specific policy guidance for content reviewers," she said. "We also provided a funding boost to our third-party fact checkers to increase their capacity and coordinated with the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Electoral Commission." Concerns over data gaps The inquiry also heard evidence not enough data was being collected about the extent of racist incidences against Indigenous Australians. Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Katie Kiss told the inquiry requirements to monitor institutional racism under Australia's latest closing the gap agreement had not been implemented. "Priority area three of that agreement is to eradicate racism across our governments, across our systems, across our services," she said. "That includes monitoring the eradication of racism across all systems … we don't have that in place five years into that national agreement and there's not a lot of evidence that action is happening." The inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is set to hear more evidence this week in Cairns and Thursday Island in the Torres Strait.