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

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.

Facebook’s news ban hammer having a lot of collateral damage. pic.twitter.com/mP4pfd3nL5
— Josh Taylor (@joshgnosis) February 17, 2021

“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

Scott Morrison has labelled Facebook’s decision to ban news in Australia as “actions to unfriend Australia” that “were as arrogant as they were disappointing”, noting the social media giant had also cut off essential health and emergency services information pages. Morrison said in a Facebook post:

These actions will only confirm the concerns that an increasing number of countries are expressing about the behaviour of BigTech companies who think they are bigger than governments and that the rules should not apply to them.

They may be changing the world, but that doesn’t mean they run it. We will not be intimidated by BigTech seeking to pressure our Parliament as it votes on our important News Media Bargaining Code. I encourage Facebook to constructively work with the Australian Government, as Google recently demonstrated in good faith.

Scott Morrison statement on Facebook on Facebook #auspol pic.twitter.com/tqZaC6HISL
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) February 18, 2021

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.”

During a global pandemic, Australians can’t access state health departments on Facebook. On a day of flood and fire warnings in Queensland and WA, Australians can’t access the Bureau of Meteorology on Facebook.
The Morrison Government needs to fix this today. — Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) February 17, 2021

1800RESPECT has been blocked from Facebook this morning – denying victim survivors of FV and sexual assault access to critical information. Irresponsible by FB. Cth must act quickly to rectify. It’s more than just advertising revenue. There are, quite literally, lives at stake.
— Gabrielle Williams MP (@GabbyWilliamsMP) February 17, 2021

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.

(1/3) Wow, @Facebook, you have no conscience. To protect yourself in Australia, you shut down ALL news sites, inc @rapplerdotcom. Yet you allow govt propaganda sites that journalists risk their lives to fight to post! If you don’t fix this, that will have an impact on 2022 elex.
— Maria Ressa (@mariaressa) February 18, 2021

Remember when Facebook allowed the Christchurch massacre to be streamed for a full 29 minutes?
— Max Walden (@maxwalden_) February 18, 2021

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.