Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer and MP Craig Kelly could team up in a court stoush against Facebook
Billionaire businessman Clive Palmer and former Government MP Craig Kelly could team up in a court stoush against Facebook.
Mr Palmer met the politician he describes as his “old mate” over lunch inside Parliament House’s Members dining room to discuss potentially helping the former Liberal with legal costs.
The now cross-bench MP is considering federal court action against Facebook for removing his page.
Facebook deleted Mr Kelly’s page last month, stating the Sydney-based politician breached the platform’s misinformation policy.
“I think there’s clear grounds for defamation and breach of contract,” Mr Kelly told 9News.
“Facebook have defamed me. They have accused me of spreading misleading information and yet they haven’t been able to tell me what was misleading
“I need crowdfunding … we’ve got to protect freedom of speech in this country, and if Clive can help then that’s a good thing for the country.”
Mr Palmer told Nine News, “I’ve offered to support him in his quest against Facebook, and I think that’s an important thing because it goes to the national integrity of the country”.
“Here we’ve got an American company telling an elected representative of parliament what views he can have and what views he can express. It doesn’t matter whether you agree or disagree with that person’s views. They should have the right independently to participate in the public system,” he said.
A Facebook spokesperson did not comment on possible legal action but said, “We don’t allow anyone, including elected officials, to share misinformation about COVID-19 that could lead to imminent physical harm or COVID-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts. We have clear policies against this type of content and have removed Mr Kelly’s Facebook Page for repeated violations of this policy.”
Craig Kelly quit the government and moved the cross-bench after being criticised by the Prime Minister for pushing alternative treatments for COVID-19 through his Facebook page. Mr Kelly has always denied he was spreading misinformation.
“We cannot have a situation in this country where a foreign company comes in and is able to shutdown the freedom of speech of a Member of Parliament,” Mr Kelly said.
Mr Kelly has maintained he will run at the next election despite not having the finances of a major party behind him.
We have clear policies against this type of content and have removed Mr Kelly’s Facebook Page for repeated violations of this policy
Asked if he would finance Mr Kelly’s campaign, the billionaire told Nine News, “I’d have to be loyal to my party members at that time. I’d have to support the United Australia Party for that seat.”
And asked if that candidate could be Craig Kelly, Mr Palmer said he had not had talks “at this stage” about Mr Kelly joining the United Australia Party, and said the door was “open to all Australians … to stand up for a united country where we don’t go to parliament and talk rubbish all day.”
The 67-year-old did confirm he would not run again, “time to go out to pasture”, he said.
Craig Kelly said he would run to be the member for Hughes as an independent.
