- Fire agencies and health departments’ posts have disappeared from the platform.
- Social media network’s ban on news posts by users and media organizations.
- Pages of agencies like the Bureau of Meteorology, Department of Fire and Emergency Services Western Australia.
- Australian law would require to pay Australian news publishers for use of their content.
- Google threatened to remove its search engine from the country.
The social media giant has followed through on its threat to ban all Australian media content both here and internationally. As it rails against the federal government’s new plan to make Google and Facebook pay for news. In the early hours of Thursday morning, just after the proposed media bargaining code passed the lower house, Facebook hit the nuclear option – news links could no longer be shared and publishers could no longer post from their Facebook pages.
There have already been some strange effects. Along with banning traditional media outlets such as the ABC, The Sydney Morning Herald. The Age, scores of government agencies have been caught in the net. It include health departments, fire and rescue, and the Bureau of Meteorology. Even scientific journals and satirical news sites such as the Betoota Advocate felt the sting. Many fake news and conspiracy sites, meanwhile, still appear free to post.
Facebook and its reason For Media Bans
Facebook would be subject to the proposed code and be required to pay publishers if “news content” was posted on its website. It could be hit with penalties if, while it is subject to the code, it allowed news content from some publishers not part of the code while blocking others. This means Facebook would not be able to just block Australian publishers who are participating in the code but would need to block all news content from Facebook. The social media behemoth is now attempting to show how that would work in practice.
Facebook believes it offers much more benefit to news companies than news companies offer to Facebook. The company’s head in Australia and New Zealand, Will Easton. It said in a blog post announcing the block that news content accounts for less than 4% of content people see in their news feeds, while Facebook accounted for 5.1bn clicks to Australian news websites in 2020.
Facebook argues this value isn’t taken into account in how the negotiations are structured in the proposed news code. Facebook has hit the nuclear button to try to show media companies how little news means to Facebook – and how much it might affect traffic to news sites if they were suddenly cut off
Australia fires back with the decision
The decision effectively makes good on a threat Facebook made during a hearing in Australia’s senate last month. When the company suggested it could block content in the country if the bill becomes law. The news ban has already been met with confusion and criticism in the country. Fire and emergency services, domestic violence charities, state health agencies. And other organizations said they were also affected by the restrictions, prompting outrage among those who said Facebook was restricting access to vital information.
In response, the company has said it will reverse pages “inadvertently impacted” by its move. Australia’s treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, indicated he had constructive discussions about the code with the Facebook chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, morning, but indicated the government wasn’t budging on moving ahead with the code. (Although it could be open to potential changes.)
