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Social media giants are “having their cake and eating it too” as they skirt responsibility for comments posted on their platforms, but then ban people from having a voice, says former federal Liberal Party Vice President Karina Okotel.

Ms Okotel pointed to tech giants like Facebook and Twitter who had been able to avoid lawsuits because they were not deemed to be a publisher, but people on their platforms could be sued.

The Australian government is conducting a national review of state-based defamation laws to modernise laws and bring uniformity across the country.

The second stage of the review will look at whether social media platforms should be liable for defamatory comments posted by third parties.

“Social media like Facebook and Twitter still claim that they are not the publisher of content on their sites, and yet, simultaneously, social media giants selectively censor or ban users at their discretion,” Ms Okotel said.

“Social media giants truly are a law unto themselves, and the unregulated power that they wield, to shape public discourse and control the sharing of content and commentary, is mammoth.

“They are not responsible under law for comments posted on their platforms, but at the same time, they ban people from having a voice when they are participating in lawful discourse.

“No one is above their power to silence, even the leader of the free world - former President Trump.”