‘ARROGANT’: SCOTT MORRISON SLAMS FACEBOOK FOR BLOCKING AUSTRALIAN PAGES

News Desk Tech World

Thu 18 February 2021:

On Thursday morning Facebook began preventing Australian news sites from posting, while also stopping Australian users from sharing or viewing content from any news outlets, both Australian and international Facebook stepping up its campaign against government plans to force technology giants to pay publishers for their news content.

The Bureau of Meteorology, state health departments, the Western Australian opposition leader, charities and Facebook itself are among those to have been hit by Facebook’s ban on news in Australia. “It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship, or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia.  With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter.”

Australia is trying to get technology companies, including Facebook and Google, to pay for the news that is widely shared on their sites, as the advertising revenue that once supported publishers evaporates.

The law would force them to strike deals with media companies or have fees set for them. Google has threatened to withdraw its search services from Australia, but at the same time has also started to secure agreements on revenue-sharing with publishers. Facebook insists its relationship with the news industry is fundamentally different.

 

“Publishers willingly choose to post news on Facebook, as it allows them to sell more subscriptions, grow their audiences and increase advertising revenue,” it said, noting that in 2020 the platform generated 5.1 billion referrals that earned about 407 million Australian dollars ($315m) for the publishers.

The platform claimed that what it described as a “value exchange” worked in favour of the publishers. Facebook’s sudden move to block news content sparked outrage, as some government and emergency response pages, including health authorities, fire services and the police also went dark. Facebook’s own page was also affected.

Australia Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who earlier said he had had a “constructive discussion” with Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg on the law, condemned the platform’s move. “Facebook was wrong,” he told reporters. “Facebook’s actions were unnecessary, they were heavy-handed, and they will damage its reputation here in Australia.”

While the ban was only meant to target Australian news publishers, dozens of pages run by key government agencies, community pages, union pages, charity organisations and politicians were also blocked for several hours.

Australia’s main source of weather information, the Bureau of Meteorology, said on Thursday morning that it had been blocked, and was advising users to go to its direct website, app or Twitter page.

As Australia prepares to begin the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, state health departments, including SA Health and Queensland Health, were unable to post.

The Western Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services’s page was also stripped of content.

A number of Australian Capital Territory government pages were also caught up in Facebook’s action.

Cricket Australia and the Australian Council of Trade Unions were also hit with the ban.

Scott Morrison slams Facebook in Facebook post

 

Bullying

Facebook-watchers and media analysts accused the company, which made a net profit of $29.2bn in 2020, of bullying. “Facebook’s actions today can best be understood as an aggressive lobbying effort,” American journalist Judd Legum wrote on Twitter. “It’s showing the Australian government it’s willing to follow through with the ban. Tough to square this bare-knuckled approach with the company’s supposed commitment to free speech.”

Google, meanwhile, has secured deals with publishers in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Brazil and Argentina for its Google News Showcase product, and on Wednesday reached a landmark global deal with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, owner of the Wall Street Journal and two-thirds of Australia’s major city newspapers, to develop a subscription platform and share advertising revenue. News Corp has also come under fire in Australia for its domination of the news industry.

Facebook, which has long been criticised for allowing misinformation to flourish on its platforms, now finds itself blocking the news media that provided a fact-check on false information. 

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