Politics live: Chalmers calls social media a ‘business model for hate’; half of young Australians say US a ‘threat’

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
Cite

Farrer, M. (2026, October 28). Politics live: Chalmers calls social media a ‘business model for hate’; half of young Australians say US a ‘threat’. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2026/oct/29/labor-treasurer-jim-chalmers-social-media-anthony-albanese-coalition-one-nation-ntwnfb

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-10-28 · by Martin Farrer

Quick Summary

The article reports on a survey by the Australia Institute and YouGov that finds half of young Australians view the United States as a threat, while only 4% label it a close friend. Treasurer Jim Chalmers also comments at an event in Canberra about social media's role in fostering hate and toxicity in politics, describing it as a "business model for hate" due to its monetization and weaponization of extremism through algorithms.
Written by AI on 2026-10-28, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Leans strongly left (beta estimate) Confidence high
Leaning: leans strongly left for article 112994 (high confidence, 2 verified quotes) · logged 2026-10-28

Story

📰 Politics Live Social Media Criticism
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
6%
1 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
66/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-28 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Guardian · 2608 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Martin Farrer
12 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
🔮 TraceeHutchison will not run in Victoria’s state election in November, despite winning almost a quarter of first preferences at the by-election in May, citing rising violence towards women.
🔮 He says he will be briefed by police on the investigation into the alleged attack on Helen Haines later this morning, alongside Victorian premier Ben Carroll.
🔮 The communications minister Anika Wells is doing the media rounds this morning, ahead of a press club address to sell the government’s digital duty of care bill. She’s also facing questions on how the government will try and stop or Australians being able to see a live stream of a firing squad execution in the US in December.
🔮 Telstra, Optus and Vodafone will from today be able to move users over to one of their rivals’ networks in areas where coverage has dropped out due to natural disasters such as cyclones, bushfires or floods.
🔮 The directive prioritises systems of government significance – the government’s critical systems – with a review due by the end of the year, while other systems will be assessed by March.
🔮 Australia’s gen Z are the generation most willing to cut their spending way back to afford a home, according to Cotality data reported by AAP.
🔮 “Leading scientists and executives are warning that the pace of development could outpace our ability to manage emerging risks.”
🔮 The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, has defended the time Labor has taken to release its immigration plan and laid blame with the Coalition, who he believed “might have more of an appetite for legislation”.
🔮 Furhtermore, she said, she would forfeit the points from winning the event.
🔮 Anthony Albanese said in a statement that the ranking “slipped to an all-time low of 50th under the previous Coalition government” and acknowledged that the work must continue: The job is not done and we will continue to focus our efforts on lifting wages, ending gender-based violence, increasing female representation in workplaces, investing in women’s health and more. The minister for women, Katy Gallagher, said the record ranking was “not by accident”, also recognising areas for improvement: We know there is more work to do across our priorities of ending violence against women, valuing care, improving women’s economic empowerment, improving women’s health outcomes and strengthening women’s leadership and representation – this is just one measure that shows Australia is moving in the right direction.
Also by Martin Farrer
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 12 articles by Martin Farrer →

Topics

AAP Australia Australians YouGov the United States

Subjects

Chalmers PERSON · 2× the United States GPE · 2× AAP ORG · 1× America GPE · 1× Australia GPE · 1× Australians NORP · 1× Coalition ORG · 1× One Nation ORG · 1× YouGov ORG · 1× the Australia Institute ORG · 1×

Narrative

Indonesia, a close geographic neighbour and emerging partner, has been rated a more trusted partner than the United States, leading by 14% in the friend category. Social media a ‘business model for hate’: Chalmers Tom McIlroy The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says overheated discourse on social media is in large part responsible for the toxicity in politics, including the threats and abuse being sprayed at politicians.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-28

Claims (18 extracted, 1 hedged)

Australia’s immediate neighbours are trusted more than historic allies, according to a new survey AAP reports on, which shows the United States is increasingly considered a “threat”. uncertain
States → trust → survey
Only half of the Australians polled in a YouGov survey, commissioned by the Australia Institute, considered long-time ally the US a “friend”. asserted
ally → poll → Institute
Meanwhile 42% perceived America as a “threat” (defined as a nation viewed with caution or suspicion). asserted
% → perceive → caution
Two-thirds of One Nation voters perceive the US as a friend, with the Coalition close behind. asserted
thirds → perceive → friend
Labor voters are largely split and only one-quarter of Greens voters view the global superpower positively. asserted
quarter → split → superpower
Only 4% of young voters labelled the US a “close friend” while over half considered it a threat. asserted
it → label → US
Only 21% of respondents had confidence in DonaldTrump to “do the right thing” in world affairs, ahead of only Chinese president XiJinping, Russian president VladimirPutin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. asserted
% → have → un
Indonesia, a close geographic neighbour and emerging partner, has been rated a more trusted partner than the United States, leading by 14% in the friend category. Social media a ‘business model for hate’: Chalmers Tom McIlroy The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says overheated discourse on social media is in large part responsible for the toxicity in politics, including the threats and abuse being sprayed at politicians. asserted
discourse → emerge → politicians
Speaking at the Political Book of the Year awards in Canberra last night, Chalmers reflected on the alleged attack against Indi MP HelenHaines last week. asserted
Chalmers → speak → HelenHaines
He said hate had always been present in Australian society but it now has “a business model, a formula, an assembly line for mass-production.” asserted
it → say → production
He described a new kind of digital misogyny that follows women in public life wherever they go, making the current climate harshest for women. asserted
climate → describe → women
Hate is monetised and weaponised by algorithmic rage-bait. asserted
Hate → monetise → bait
Extremism is incentivised; nuance is penalised. asserted
nuance → incentivise → ?
So tonight is a little reminder of why reason and research matters, why nuance matters, what’s at risk and what’s at stake and why that matters too. asserted
that → matter → stake
Books inform our views without hardening them. asserted
Books → inform → them
Social media hardens our views without informing them. asserted
media → harden → them
Haines is recovering in hospital. asserted
Haines → recover → hospital
Police have charged a 43-year-old man over the alleged attack outside her Wangaratta electorate office. asserted
Police → charge → office
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support