In Defence of the Narrative, Facebook Stands Ready

A Melbourne businessman, Phillip Mobbs, who is opposed to the Voice, decided to launch his own Facebook and web pages, which he called Constitutional Equality. Mr Mobbs was spending substantial amounts, up to $2,000 a week, “boosting” his Facebook posts to attract as many eyes as possible, as is his lawful and legitimate right.

There was trouble ahead however. Mr Mobbs  was thrust into prominence overnight thanks to John Paul Janke’s claim, made on the ABCs Insiders on August 6, that the No campaign was “using AI with black, Indigenous characters to try and look like it’s an indigenous person supporting the No campaign”. Mr Janke, host of NITV’s The Point, claimed the No campaign had “multiple social media pages” built around the AI ads. This wasn’t and isn’t true. Gerard Henderson’s Media Watch Dog gives a succinct account of the Insiders conversation:

John Paul Janke: You know, online, the No campaign have multiple social media pages. Some of them now are using…