Thousands of innocent Australians locked out by Meta's artificial intelligence safety bots

Thousands of innocent Australians have been shut out of their social media accounts because of critical mistakes by Meta’s AI safety tools, sparking calls for urgent government intervention.

Small business owner Marianne Wilkinson had her fledgling skincare business Pepcare Lab banned when Meta’s bots confused her cosmetic creams with illegal prescription drugs.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Meta’s AI bots wrongly ban thousands of Australians

“Meta has accused me of selling illegal prescription medications,” Wilkinson said.

One of many caught in tech giant Meta’s AI safety sweep was photographer Mary Miller who had set up an Instagram page for her daughter’s artwork. Meta flagged her as underage, banning all her accounts, including her photography business.

The wave of Meta’s AI shutdowns has caught thousands of Australians, with the only avenue for appeal being more Meta chatbots.

Banned user Sarah Otton said she was falsely accused of child sexual exploitation.

“I got accused of child sexual exploitation, which is disgusting,” Otton said.

“And they just keep on saying they can’t do anything, like their decision’s final.”

“They’re stuck in an endless chatbot loop and not getting an explanation as to why,” said Cynthia Gebert, Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman is being flooded with complaints but is powerless to act and is calling on the federal government to expand her jurisdiction to include digital platforms.

“We are trying to gather more data and more information to influence the government for change,” Gebert said.

Communications Minister Anika Wells wants the law changed, forcing platforms to have simple ways for users to make complaints.

“The problem is that they have all the robots doing all their work,” Wilkinson said.