Sabra Lane: Staying on technology, the agency responsible for investigating complaints against big tech companies wants more powers to help customers deal in disputes. The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman says there's been a rise in complaints with customers forced to deal with unhelpful chatbots and automated emails. The agency says those tech companies have the resources and the time to address these complaints, but don't. Political reporter Samantha Dick has the story.
Samantha Dick : Still being charged for subscriptions you swore you'd cancelled, locked out of your Instagram account for no reason, or in the case of Queensland business owner Alistair Hart, suspended from Facebook after a hacker posted disturbing content to his personal page.
Alistair Hart: Obviously I was concerned about the reputational impacts of having this stuff stuck on my Facebook page, you know, both in a professional context but also in a personal context.
Samantha Dick : When he tried to resolve the issue with social media giant Meta, Alistair Hart was sent in circles.
Alistair Hart: We're yet to restore access, you know, three and a half years later to our company Facebook pages which is, you know, professionally frustrating, limiting in terms of trade and economic growth and all that sort of stuff.
Christie Langham: I complained to Facebook and instead of help me, they suspended my account.
Samantha Dick : Perth woman Christy Langham was running as a candidate in the election for her local council when she was hacked and unexpectedly booted from her social media account.
Christie Langham: The loss of visibility on social media of course contributed significantly to my losing the election.
Samantha Dick : Between January 2023 and August of this year, Australia's telecommunications industry ombudsman received more than 1,500 complaints about the behaviour of digital platforms. Its latest report singles out tech companies Google, Apple, Microsoft, Hubble and Meta as some of the worst offenders driving complaints. The problem is the body doesn't have the power to investigate them.
Cynthia Gebert: So we would need new laws. So our powers at the moment currently only cover our phone and internet services.
Samantha Dick : Telecommunications industry ombudsman Cynthia Gebert says she wants the federal government to expand its jurisdiction to include digital platforms.
Cynthia Gebert: The ACCC a number of years ago through their digital inquiry identified the need for an independent ombudsman scheme. There continues to be consumer harm. There continues to be detriment experienced by Australians.
Alistair Hart: If I knew that there was an external resource outside of the Facebook whatever metaverse that I could appeal these outcomes to, I absolutely would.
Samantha Dick : For Alistair Hart, having access to an independent complaints body would have been a game changer. In the ombudsman's latest report, nearly 80% of complaints about digital platforms related to transactional disputes, while the others related to social harms such as misinformation and defensive content. Now a potential new risk is emerging with concerns some adults could be swept up in next week's rollout of Australia's social media ban for under 16s, which the federal government has admitted will be clunky.
Cynthia Gebert: There could be people who have been incorrectly locked out or who are unable to verify their ID. They might be 35 and unable to verify their age. At the moment it's going to be really tough.
Sabra Lane: Telecommunications industry ombudsman Cynthia Gabert ending that report by Samantha Dick and AM has contacted the Federal Communications Minister Annika Wells for comment.