What's your thoughts on Facebook banning then unbanning Australians from accessing news?
Posted by: TaylorCS
18th Feb 2021 10:25am
Updated Feb 23: "Facebook will scrap its ban on Australian news and publishers within “days” in a shock announcement made less than a week after it first pulled all news content from Australian users’ feeds....A number of amendments have been made to the code following the negotiations, including support for regional and small publishers in securing deals with digital platforms."
This morning, Australian's are waking up to the news that Facebook has blocked them from accessing news as well as some NFP organisations + emergency service pages. This is in response to proposed laws that would force tech companies to pay for news content and has caused mass confusion and outrage from the media and citizens alike.
From ABC News: "The government said it was continuing to talk with Facebook, and founder Mark Zuckerberg has already spoken to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg this morning.... Facebook has said the proposed laws fundamentally misunderstood the relationship between their platform and publishers who used it to share news content."
What's your thoughts on Facebook banning Australians from accessing news? And in response, have you followed your favourite news sites and/or organisations on other platforms / newsletters etc. this morning?
This morning, Australian's are waking up to the news that Facebook has blocked them from accessing news as well as some NFP organisations + emergency service pages. This is in response to proposed laws that would force tech companies to pay for news content and has caused mass confusion and outrage from the media and citizens alike.
From ABC News: "The government said it was continuing to talk with Facebook, and founder Mark Zuckerberg has already spoken to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg this morning.... Facebook has said the proposed laws fundamentally misunderstood the relationship between their platform and publishers who used it to share news content."
What's your thoughts on Facebook banning Australians from accessing news? And in response, have you followed your favourite news sites and/or organisations on other platforms / newsletters etc. this morning?
You must be a member to reply to this chat topic. Click here to sign in.
Help Caféstudy members by responding to their questions, or ask your own in Café Chat, and you will get the chance of earning extra rewards. Caféstudy will match these and donate equally to our two chosen Australian charities.
Australian Marine Conservation Society are an independent charity, staffed by a committed group of scientists, educators and passionate advocates who have defended Australia’s oceans for over 50 years.
ReachOut is the most accessed online mental health service for young people and their parents in Australia. Their trusted self-help information, peer-support program and referral tools save lives by helping young people be well and stay well. The information they offer parents makes it easier for them to help their teenagers, too.
Comments 23
ab
I really don't have any time for 'social media'... I think it causes more harm than it's worth. I turned my back on them decades ago and have been all the better for it. They can all shut down tomorrow and I wouldn't lose a wink of sleep over it. :)
PGS
Prefer just to ban FB...
Debbie
I think they had to do it to make their point :)
Jess32090729
I don’t think it’s necessary. It my only source of news as I dont watch the tv news often
Ashleigh32089368
It’s the equivalent of a sibling starting tension for no reason. Like a sibling stealing your toy just to see a reaction from you.
I personally knew it wasn’t going to last long because it just seemed like someone threw a temper tantrum. It’s the reasonable decision to unban the news on Facebook again because if they didn’t there would’ve been an uproar.
They’re either trying to manipulate us to see how the community would react or they made a genuine mistake and now trying to cover their asses. I mean how did they expect us to see corona virus updates?
mustang6000
The whole thing is just a money grab by Murdoch and his government did as it was told. I agree with others that it is a sad indictment on today's society when the main source of peoples news is social and the misinformation available to all.
Ms_Boobear
My main concern about all of this is that people are looking to the socials for news. This makes me sad. And it is why proper journalism is dying out & this ridiculous world of being first with the news or rumour is taking over.
Madelaine31954568
Living in a rural area it was very handy in staying up to date with what’s happening around town by receiving free updates through Facebook. I believe it also gave the ability to get news to more people quicker receiving updates in real time as opposed to reading about it a week later in the local newspaper (no local news stations)
Bella4927
I feel like if an everyday citizen should pay for access of news then so should a huge corporation. I dont think its right for facebook to do this though, and It would push other social media to be in favour of its users if they continue this. I usually read the news on my favourite website each night so it doesnt affect me too much, but I found social media was more boring, more ads and I didnt want to stay on it as long as there was no interesting content when this happened.
dee
Pretty poor for banning news , it is great that the the government stuck to there guns and won.
Chuckie
Facebook should not be about news so for me it was good they took news off
Ali21
I don't trust Facebook and google, it is not a secure site they make money selling your data although they reckon they don't your data to third parties what a crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amy32083543
I’ve never found Facebook news to be reliable anyway plus the comments section being full of often comments making more of it unreliable.
bearman
This is so typical of Mark Zuckerberg. Watch the movie, the social network,where he and his mates start facebook and he shafts them all in the end to get his own way. He had to make a deal in the end because every country was watching him try to influence the Australian government. What we will never know is what the deal was!
Josh31650950
Don’t source your news from Facebook. Simple
Ashley32083282
It was a ridiculous response to a ridiculous move by a Government in the Murdoch Media's back pocket.
People were nor "cut off" from news. It was still there, they just had to find it without using Facebook.
News services claim that their news is a product used by Facebook, when in fact Facebook is a product used by the News Services to connect them easily to consumers.
Aneeqa3
I think this shows again the immense power that the media has on individuals. The fact that Facebook can choose to shut out our news with a flick of its fingers is scary. We already know Facebook listens to us and now they have the power to shut off our news, what else are they capable of?
starclass
Facebook has been FAKEBOOK for quite some time. They are data miners, minimizing tax liabilities , reluctant to to call out misinformation and taking down trolls. Fakebook's model has encouraged division within countries. The worlds would better off without them.
rcuttell
I'm an old guy. You know, the "OK Boomer" type. I use Facebook to keep in touch with people and causes which interest me. News? I didn't see Facebook as a news source until this latest brouhaha. I still get news from radio, TV and catch up and live stream TV. I sneak a peek at newspapers in coffee shops occasionally, but you wouldn't pay for them....
kidwithsmurf
This is terrible and the Australian Government needs to stop trying to make big companies pay for news content. If the Government cared enough about big companies such as Google/Facebook etc paying for news, then they should enforce they pay the correct taxes and use some of the tax money to pay news companies.
I do not personally see how or why Facebook is involved because Facebook/Mark Zuckerberg does not have anything to do with what news is posted on Facebook. This is because the news company must create the page/post the content itself etc. I know a lot of media was just copying and pasting random things from Reddit etc... but not having News on Facebook is terrible.
News on Facebook is mine and I am sure a lot of other younger generations first point of call. Therefore, when there is an accident, someone missing, an urgent event like a fire, gun man etc... this would be the best way to get live, up to date news on the go. Now we cannot get live to the second important news updates.
Also, for me it has blocked independent newspapers from my town from posting. Therefore, I cannot get up to date news about my town without buying the weekly newspaper they release. This is not good because it is weekly and if there is an incident that the public needs to be made aware of immediately, they will find it awfully hard. Along with this a lot of the news groups are going subscription based and do not print paper copies anymore. Therefore, you have to buy the subscription or be sitting in front of your television/radio to get the up-to-date news... which face it, hardly anyone I know buys the subscriptions or is sitting in front of their televisions or radio 24/7.
Likewise, I said the same with Google threatening this. Google is free advertisement and so is Facebook. Without the news on either site, no-one would know half the news companies (Other than the major ones on TV/Radio) exist. Plus, it is extremely hard to get local up-to-date news in your town from a radio station or major news corporation as they only pick and choose what they share which is normally pertained to major cities/towns etc.
Lastly, I put it this way. As an example, imagine if there was a terrorist attack and the first place to post the news was Facebook/Google… But you could not get it because they blocked Australian News… then you enter the building the terrorist attack is happening and you get killed… All this over the Government wanting companies to pay for news (For whatever reason). This is terrible and I don’t even see the news companies pushing for this law to become reality.
Overall, the government should just leave the media alone. I do not see why Facebook should pay to have Australian news on their website when it's up to the news company to whether they use Facebook or not and not Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook). This is the same with Google. It is up to the news company to get their listing into Google. All this is free advertising for the news company and if anything shouldn't Facebook/Google etc be the one wanting to charge the news companies to use their platform?
I am at a loss and think people are going to miss out on important information that they really need to know in live time as it happens which is what Facebook was particularly good for.
the rack
The news services are pretty much the top reason for me to stay on Facebook. So looks like I’ll be spending less time on Facebook and will be getting my life back and remaining ignorant to the world and local happenings. Short answer, not happy
Matthew Jackman
There are a large list of news sources outside of Facebook to use... such as the very media sources that Facebook sources from. You just have to, you know, go to their pages instead of be on Facebook. It really isn’t that hard.
kidwithsmurf
This is the major problem with all this. As you get all your news from Facebook and will no longer know when something important is happening... this causes a major problem.
As my comment above, Facebook is how a lot of the younger generation including myself get live up-to-date news in our area. So without news on Facebook, people won't get the news they really need when they need it. Such as traffic incidents, closed roads, police issues (Such as gun men or terrorist attack) etc etc.
Like imagine if there is a life threatening event happening but you didn't know because you couldn't get real time news on Facebook... Then you enter the area the life threatening event is happening and you get injured? Whose at fault then?