Malcolm Turnbull might anticipate a nicer greeting at his next ticketed event after being yelled down by an angry mob at his former university on Thursday, but there isn’t much online enthusiasm in evidence.
The former prime minister will be the featured speaker at the forthcoming Antidote talking festival on September 11 at the Sydney Opera House.
At 1pm, Mr. Turnbull will share the stage with Ed Coper, the creator of the activist group GetUp, to discuss how to “Unfriend the algorithm” as part of Antidote, which bills itself as “a festival of ideas, art, and change.”
Political journalist Karen Middleton will moderate the discussion, which will focus on whether or not the government should “move in to safeguard us from Big Social Media.”
The session description states that “conspiracy theories and false news are transmitted through social media, with real and dangerous consequences for society.”
Is it time for governments to take algorithm bubbles into account?
A social media user who lives in an algorithm bubble only sees content that they find to be amenable as shown by websites like Facebook or Twitter.
Mr Turnbull’s upcoming event has been hit by trolls on Facebook
The event will question if governments need to consider an ‘algorithm bubble’
Unfortunately, the Facebook advertisement for the event hasn’t exactly sparked a commenting frenzy.
Attending the event—for which tickets start at $33 plus a $8.50 booking fee—was met with largely unfavorable responses.
How incredibly dull. Someone with a semblance of intelligence would be good as the next program director, one commenter said.
“They ought to compensate the attendees.” Cannot imagine a worse experience than having to put up with Turnbull,” stated a different unenthusiastic preview.
‘Sorry, got to watch the grass grow and the paint dry,’ said another.
A post about Mr Turnbull’s upcoming discussion was hit with a wave of troll comments
For Mr Turnbull, it may be a relief that those not keen to hear him won’t be turning up.
On Thursday he was shouted down by a small group of socialist protesters who disrupted his address as part of Sydney University’s alumni law speaker series.
Socialist activists gatecrashed a speech given by a former Australian prime minister to hurl abuse at him and his audience in wild scenes.
One aggressive male protestor blasted ‘how dare you come here?’ at a shaken Mr Turnbull through a megaphone, despite standing right in front of him.
Mr Turnbull said the protestors had ‘demonstrated how little respect they have for any of you by coming in here with loudhailers’ before being shouted down.
Mr Turnbull was interrupted by shouting, chanting and shrieking Socialist Alliance protesters who stormed his appearance at Sydney University’s law speaker series on Thursday
Eventually police cleared out the protesters and barricaded the venue while Mr Turnbull gave his talk online.
There is also the option to hear Mr Turnbull’s Antidote session online, for a cost of $15 but there were few apparent takers under the ad.
‘No thanks. Nobodies talking about nothing,’ one said.
‘I thought past PMs were supposed to slink away quietly into retirement, not our Malcolm,’ wrote another critic.
Scottish actor Brian Cox, here seen portraying ruthless media baron Logan Roy, will be a star speaker at the Antidote festival
Other Antidote sessions will see crossbench and independent federal MPs Adam Bandt, Cathy McGowan and Allegra Spender talk about ‘the world turned upside down’.
Perhaps the biggest international star power will be provided by Scottish actor Brian Cox, who stars as the ruthless media magnate and family patriarch Logan Roy in the hit TV show Succession.
Cox will appear in a session titled ‘The evil in all of us’ hosted by Australian actor David Wenham.
Antidote sessions run from 10.30am until the last two evening ones starting at 6.30pm and all are approximately 45 minutes to an hour.
The Antidote organisers have been contacted for comment.