Skip to content

Albanese declined meeting with Meta's Nick Clegg over media code deals, emails show

Emails obtained by Capital Brief show that Anthony Albanese declined to meet Meta’s president of global affairs following the tech giant’s decision to drop deals with news publishers.

John Buckley
Make us a preferred source
The decision to sidestep talks with Clegg, who joined US President Joe Biden to announce AI measures in the White House last year, leaves Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones as the most senior Labor representative engaging with the platform. AP/Jeff Chiu.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declined a meeting with former UK deputy prime minister and current Meta president of global affairs Nick Clegg in the weeks following the tech giant’s decision to abandon lucrative deals with news publishers.

Albanese’s decision to sidestep talks with Clegg, who met with US President Joe Biden at the White House last year, leaves Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones as the most senior government figure lobbying the platform, as $70 million in revenue is set to evaporate from the Australian media sector.

Emails obtained by Capital Brief under freedom of information laws reveal that on 3 May, representatives of the Prime Minister declined an offer from Clegg to discuss Meta’s decision to end deals with media companies, including News Corp, Nine Entertainment, and Seven West Media.

The emails show that on 14 March, just days after Meta made the decision to abandon multi-million dollar deals with Australian publishers was announced, Clegg wrote directly to Albanese offering to discuss the social media giant’s reasoning behind the move and answer questions.