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With the advent of social media and corresponding decline of mainstream media, misinformation has become an increasing threat to the concept of shared facts, as well as increasing mistrust and polarisation in our community.
The consequences of misinformation have manifested in events such as the January 6 attacks on the US Capitol in Washington DC and the spread of falsehoods about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. The Australian Electoral Commission has acknowledged unprecedented levels of misinformation on social media during the 2023 Voice Referendum.
current programs
AAP FactCheck is the only remaining internationally accredited fact checking organisation in Australia. In 2024-25, McKinnon provided funding that allowed AAP to scale up its fact checking team and achieve the ambitious goal of more than doubling its output. Our support helped AAP improve publication times to debunk articles by 58 per cent; create an average 45 fact checking articles per month up from 25 in 2023 and translate articles for CALD publishers.
This funding helps to protect Australia’s democracy and community from the rising threat of mis and disinformation during the 2025 Federal Election. A motivation for McKinnon to support this initiative was AAP FactCheck discovering a significant increase in the volume of misinformation online in the lead up to the October 2023 Voice Referendum.
Strong digital platform regulation is essential to help combat digital risks and online harms such as scams, harmful content, misinformation and data breaches. This is important not just to protect individuals, but to support a healthy democracy and robust online political debate.
In 2023 and 2024, McKinnon commissioned Reset Tech Australia, a not-for-profit research agency that specialises in addressing digital harms, to write two reports assessing how well Australia’s current digital regulatory system was operating and provide recommendations to improve it.
The first report, Functioning or Failing? An evaluation of the efficacy of the Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation, summarised extensive experimental research to evaluate platform processes and responses to misinformation and disinformation during the Voice referendum.
The second report, Achieving Digital Platform Public Transparency in Australia, reviewed Australia’s current digital platform transparency reporting requirements and compared this with the public transparency frameworks under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and the UK’s new Online Safety Act.
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Leadership
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Public Sector
The effectiveness of Australia’s public sector directly impacts our nation’s productivity and success. That is why we invest in developing measurable frameworks that drive impact and making research and resources accessible and useable.
Policy Innovation
Australia faces specific challenges that require fresh thinking and proven solutions. From education inequality to economic productivity, we need policy approaches that work - not just in theory, but in practice. That’s why we focus on finding and implementing the best policy innovation to accelerate progress and build trust.