Legal experts have warned of hefty fines for small businesses who joined a viral trend mocking the government’s capital gains tax with AI-generated pics of Anthony Albanese.
ICYMI, social media was set alight last week after the government announced sweeping reforms in the 2026-2027 Federal Budget that removed a discount on the capital gains tax, meaning small businesses or startups could pay the government up to 47 per cent in taxes if they sell their business.
It basically means a bigger chunk of the profits made from selling a business could go to the government, which naturally led to condemnation — and almost-instant meme-ification — by scores of small business owners joking that Albanese now partly owns their companies.
A bunch of business owners shared AI versions of Albanese “working” in their offices, including him on the tools for trades companies, smiling with fruit shop operators, or jokingly announced as a “new shareholder” in ‘official’ company update posts.
While it’s all a bit of plain ‘ol fun, lawyers have cautioned that the viral trend could veer into dicey territory if it seems like Albanese is endorsing a business’ products or services.
“Using an AI-generated image of a politician or celebrity is not automatically illegal in Australia, because there is no standalone ‘image right’ that gives a person complete control over every commercial use of their likeness,” LegalVison lawyer Charlotte Hale told 9News.
“The legal risk starts when a post creates the impression that the person endorsed, approved, sponsored or attended the business,” she added.
That legal risk applies even if businesses didn’t intend to mislead customers, because the effect can still “create a false overall impression” that Albanese endorsed the business.
Under Australian Consumer Law, businesses can cop fines of up to a whopping $100 million for deceptive, AI-generated endorsements.
Businesses can lessen the risk by being clear that their content is overtly a parody, by leaving an AI-generated content label, and by clarifying that the post “does not imply endorsement or promote a commercial product”, Hale said.
While he didn’t specifically endorse any businesses who shared memes of him, Albanese did thank those who joined the trend for using “very flattering” pics of him.
“I think some of them are very flattering,” Albanese said at the height of the craze last week, per The Australian. “I thank them for picking nice photos of me and I thank them for it.”
The changes to the CGT were formally announced at the Federal Budget earlier this month, but they are subject to parliamentary debate and negotiations before they become law.
Lead images: Getty and Instagram
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