Facebook restricts access to Australian News post and article after Parliament Lower House passes Media Baragining Code

[leadeater]

29 minutes ago, Spotty said:

*Shocked pikachu face* Australian News websites have seen a pretty noticeable dip in traffic since Facebook put the news ban in place.

 

So in summary:

Aussie news companies: "We hate our business, we need to kill it even faster"

Facebook: "Well if that is what you want"

Aussie news companies: *achievement unlocked*

[Jimmyson]

There is also the argument to be had about media companies use for Facebook for news. Many (if not all) take content from it and push it onto the larger audience.

It's a publicly accessible communication platform. It has been used to gauge the public's response to whatever is the issue of the day, or hype up stories for content filling, or public shaming, sometimes without consent to the author.

 

Being someone who closed his profile some years ago, I questioned the heavy dependence on the Facebook platform as a Central point for any/all communication. Remember there are countries around the world whom use Facebook as their internet access. It's pretty much a utility in some places.

 

With the legislation of Media Bargaining Code moving though Parliament, Facebook had stated that dropping news content from the Australian portion of their platform was possible, and so it happened. It's not like we weren't warned. What they ended up doing was preventing ANY post from most Facebook Pages. Seems as if they didn't vet their lists, and just did a blanket ban.

 

In a way, Facebook page posts could be seen as news, but in the generic sense. Businesses, Organizations and Government Entities informing people who subscribe to their updates. Is that not news to someone?

Preventing posts from pages that often provide critical updates that can protect/save lives is what I believe pissed of many people, or at least those whom either depend on it, or relay the information. Such as the case on the day with the Bureau of Meteorology, or the WA Fire Service, as there was an Extreme Fire Danger somewhere in WA, or a Cyclone could have formed up near the Top end of Australia, as this time of year, it's very active.

 

Most of those pages are now back up and running with their Post functionality restored. But it has left a bitter taste, and is feeding into other debate about media ownership and monopoly/oligopoly.

[CarlBar]

On 2/19/2021 at 1:46 AM, tjmarx said:

To those using the good ole' "they're a private company, they can do what they want" line, that's bunk.

Telstra and Optus are private companies, should they be able to decide what you're allowed to talk about on the phone? via SMS? What pages you should be able to view through the internet? Of course not. They're a communications platform.

 

Facebook too is, a communications platform. But it's more than that, for some people Facebook IS the internet, they don't know how to access other parts of the internet or they are device locked. Access to independent news sources are essential to democracy. What Facebook are doing is nothing short of a direct attack on Australian democracy.

The block locks out news sources in Australia, Australian news sources internationally and has also locked out GOVERNMENT pages including those of emergency services and state health departments...during a pandemic.

 

Most of Australia seems to agree, accounts are being deleted en masse, #deletefacebook is trending, large brands are pulling their ad dollars and ScoMo has asked the international community for solidarity and has begun receiving it. Even the ex-CEO of Facebook Australia is encouraging Aussies to delete their accounts. 

Facebook don't seem to have noticed the writing on the wall in time like Google did. 

https://nypost.com/2021/02/18/ex-australian-facebook-ceo-urges-users-to-delete-the-app/

 

https://7news.com.au/technology/how-to-delete-your-facebook-account-after-australian-news-ban-c-2195349

 

https://thewest.com.au/technology/facebook/facebook-news-ban-deletefacebook-movement-gains-traction-across-australia-ng-b881800083z

 

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7132568/how-facebook-has-failed-australia-a-message-to-our-readers/

 

https://www.9news.com.au/technology/facebook-news-ban-what-are-the-global-implications-for-technology-giant-digital-expert/38e5622d-8d1c-45c6-9e63-6dbaa7e3352f

 

Telstra and Optus don;t have to pay you when you discuss certain things. Thats the difference here. By expecting to have to pay for having certain things on their platform the law treats Facebook as a publisher. A publisher can choose to publish or not publish whatever the hell they please. if you don;t like facebook's stance direct your ire towards the Australian government.

[Delicieuxz]