Undeterred by Facebook news blackout, Australia commits to content law

[snoop1130]

Undeterred by Facebook news blackout, Australia commits to content law

By Byron Kaye

 

A 3D printed Facebook logo is seen in front of displayed Australia's flag in this illustration photo taken February 18, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison vowed on Friday to press ahead with laws to force Facebook Inc to pay news outlets for content, saying he had received support from world leaders after the social media giant blacked out all media.

 

Facebook stripped the pages of domestic and foreign news outlets for Australians and blocked users of its platform from sharing any news content on Thursday, saying it had been left with no choice ahead of the new content laws.

 

The move, which also erased several state government and emergency department accounts, as well as nonprofit charity sites, caused widespread outrage.

 

Morrison, who blasted Facebook on its own platform for "unfriending" Australia, said on Friday the leaders of Britain, Canada, France and India had shown support.

 

"There is a lot of world interest in what Australia is doing," Morrison told reporters in Sydney.

 

"That is why I invite ... Facebook to constructively engage because they know that what Australia will do here is likely to be followed by many other Western jurisdictions."

 

Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault said late on Thursday his country would adopt the Australian approach as it crafts its own legislation in coming months.

 

The Australian law, which will force Facebook and Google to reach commercial deals with Australian publishers or face compulsory arbitration, has already been cleared by the federal lower house and is expected to be passed by the Senate within the next week.

 

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said he had spoken to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for a second time following the news blackout.

 

"We talked through their remaining issues and agreed our respective teams would work through them immediately. We'll talk again over the weekend," Frydenberg said in a tweet.

 

In its statement announcing the move in Australia, Facebook said the Australian law "misunderstood" its value to publishers. Frydenberg earlier told the Australian Broadcasting Corp that "there is something much bigger here at stake than just one or two commercial deals. This is about Australia's sovereignty".

 

Facebook and Alphabet Inc owned Google had campaigned together against the laws with both threatening to withdraw key services from Australia if the laws took effect.

 

Google, however, announced a host of preemptive licencing deals over the past week, including a global agreement with News Corp.

 

Facebook restored some government pages later on Thursday, but several charity, nonprofit and even neighbourhood groups remained dark.

 

WEB TRAFFIC SLUMPS

 

Facebook's move had an immediate impact on traffic to Australian newsites, according to early data from New York-based analytics firm Chartbeat.

 

Total traffic to the Australian news sites from various platforms fell from the day before the ban by around 13% within the country and by about 30% outside the country, the Chartbeat data showed.

 

Similarly, traffic to the Australian news sites from Facebook alone plummeted from around 21% to about 2% within Australia, and from around 30% to about 4% outside the country.

 

News Corp Australasia Executive Chairman Michael Miller, testifying at an unrelated parliamentary hearing, confirmed the impact but said the number of Australians visiting the company's websites directly had risen.

 

"Definitely referral traffic was nonexistent ... while at the same time direct traffic to our websites was up in double digits," he told the inquiry.

 

Miller also suggested antitrust regulator the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) should scrutinise Facebook's move.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-02-19

 

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[mfd101]

Australia 1, Facebook 0 at half-time.

[blackcab]

The Australian government decided it was unfair for Facebook to link/share to news sites without paying the publishers.

 

So Facebook stops linking/sharing news content and now the Australian government is upset.

[wombat]

i call it cyber terrorism

[zyphodb]

Reading between the lines, a convenient way to censor unwelcome, for the government news stories getting around the country and the world...

[zyphodb]

Shortly to be followed by other countries doing the same? sounds like very convenient censorship for the corrupt governments to me...

[Scott]

A post from an unattributed source has been removed along with trolling post.

 

[thesetat2013]

Facebook is in itself a form of cyberterrorism. They choose what they want to censure.. Decide what they think should be permitted or what they want the public to believe. Force you to divulge private information that is stored forever on their mainframes. They conspire with other platforms to block content based on their own perceptions. There is no freedom within the platform and those who use it daily are puppets to what facebook moderators deem good for your mentality. 

Platforms like facebook should permit freedoms to say what you think.. They should pay for news the same that is otherwise paid for on the news services sites. 

In essence their use of links collect them income and take away income from the news services platforms. I read many comments in here that prove most tvf posts do not seem to understand this. Imagine if you opened a website and charged money for registration or a flat fee to access the information that was on your link.. Then along comes FB and bypasses your link to pay for this access. You would want it stopped also. Then imagine because you told FB to stop that they blocked your other links for emergency aid or where to go for help.. FB is the one extorting.. FB is the one cheating and stealing. FB is the one that needs to be taken out to pasture. 

[mfd101]

21 minutes ago, zyphodb said:

Shortly to be followed by other countries doing the same? sounds like very convenient censorship for the corrupt governments to me...

Canada has already signaled it will be following the Oz example.

[zyphodb]

42 minutes ago, thesetat2013 said:

Facebook is in itself a form of cyberterrorism. They choose what they want to censure.. Decide what they think should be permitted or what they want the public to believe. Force you to divulge private information that is stored forever on their mainframes. They conspire with other platforms to block content based on their own perceptions. There is no freedom within the platform and those who use it daily are puppets to what facebook moderators deem good for your mentality. 

Platforms like facebook should permit freedoms to say what you think.. They should pay for news the same that is otherwise paid for on the news services sites. 

In essence their use of links collect them income and take away income from the news services platforms. I read many comments in here that prove most tvf posts do not seem to understand this. Imagine if you opened a website and charged money for registration or a flat fee to access the information that was on your link.. Then along comes FB and bypasses your link to pay for this access. You would want it stopped also. Then imagine because you told FB to stop that they blocked your other links for emergency aid or where to go for help.. FB is the one extorting.. FB is the one cheating and stealing. FB is the one that needs to be taken out to pasture. 

I do agree with you on this but I still believe that it's being used as a convenient censorship tool by the powers that be... 

[TKDfella]

Wow, I'm thinking about going back on FB to stop friends and family from phoning...never stops ringing,Ha ????. Just my joke. However, it is partly true. I do use Line quite a lot which, at the moment, is not owned by the larger platforms and we do enjoy ordinary phone conversations more than FB...imo it's worth the effort. The Internet, FB are good for somethings but does tend to make people lazy.

[mlmcleod]

The governments worldwide are frustrated that Facebook is so successful while being untaxed!  If the Australians are so concerned by the local news blackout by Facebook it is a simple matter to set up a website for such news.  They can then tax it!

[SomchaiCNX]

Just now, mlmcleod said:

The governments worldwide are frustrated that Facebook is so successful while being untaxed!  If the Australians are so concerned by the local news blackout by Facebook it is a simple matter to set up a website for such news.  They can then tax it!

Sorry but a lot of American based platforms think they should not pay tax nor follow the rules and laws of the countries they are operating in. Instead of adjusting they send a busload of lobbyists (new name for people who pass out big brown envelopes) to try to change the laws in their favor.

Edited February 20, 2021 by SomchaiCNX

[simple1]

4 minutes ago, mlmcleod said:

The governments worldwide are frustrated that Facebook is so successful while being untaxed!  If the Australians are so concerned by the local news blackout by Facebook it is a simple matter to set up a website for such news.  They can then tax it!

Oz government funds ABC Australia for around A$1 billion a year, also utilises the ABC platforms for public information broadcasts during emergencies e.g. bushfires. 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/

 

Facebook Australia, as do other multinationals utilise aggressive tax avoidance, more politely, tax minimisation techniques, a worldwide problem which government struggle to address.

 

https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/facebook-pays-less-than-17m-in-tax-in-australia-20200531-p54y1z

[welovesundaysatspace]

23 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Facebook Australia, as do other multinationals utilise aggressive tax avoidance, more politely, tax minimisation techniques, a worldwide problem which government struggle to address.

The solution to that doesn’t seem to be making a law that would require Facebook to pay content producers for what they post on Facebook. 

 

[welovesundaysatspace]

3 hours ago, zyphodb said:

Reading between the lines, a convenient way to censor unwelcome, for the government news stories getting around the country and the world...

As of today, I am not aware of any news story that the Australian government has blocked or altered for the public. Please provide specific proof of censorship or refrain from such conspiracy theories. 

[simple1]

22 minutes ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

The solution to that doesn’t seem to be making a law that would require Facebook to pay content producers for what they post on Facebook. 

 

Didn't make that claim / suggestion

[tifino]

but why are are our oz based facebook pages still displaying all that leftist, socialist, & wokey stuff on our pc screens?   - it should fairly be blocked alongside all the rest...  

[welovesundaysatspace]

10 minutes ago, tifino said:

it should fairly be blocked alongside all the rest...  

What law exactly requires Facebook to block content you don’t like? 

[RocketDog]

4 hours ago, car720 said:

This has all come about because it is easier to use a computer game than to run a country.

And when has this not been true?

I guess I'm missing some cogent point. 

[tifino]

36 minutes ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

47 minutes ago, tifino said:

it should fairly be blocked alongside all the rest...  

What law exactly requires Facebook to block content you don’t like? 

I was on about; that if FBk is going to blanket-BlackOut all else that is important (including all those vicitimised Pages regarding OZ Charities/Hospitals/Personal Tributes etc etc) - then they can bluddywell block ALL the Leftist propaganda pages too!!  

(if it good enough for the goose it is good for the gander)  

[welovesundaysatspace]

28 minutes ago, tifino said:

I was on about; that if FBk is going to blanket-BlackOut all else that is important (including all those vicitimised Pages regarding OZ Charities/Hospitals/Personal Tributes etc etc) - then they can bluddywell block ALL the Leftist propaganda pages too!!  

(if it good enough for the goose it is good for the gander)  

Up to them. I anyone telling you what to say or not? 

[tifino]

3 minutes ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

Up to them. I anyone telling you what to say or not? 

Facebook is... 

[welovesundaysatspace]

2 minutes ago, tifino said:

Facebook is... 

No, it’s not. It can’t even. It doesn’t have any jurisdiction over you. 

[tifino]

1 minute ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

No, it’s not. It can’t even. It doesn’t have any jurisdiction over you. 

but it Does - over one's participation on facepillok itself...   Ozzies are most unhappy about the Loss of their 'Groups' most of all.  Fbk has totally Deleted content/Groups just as effectively as it Deleted a president...

[welovesundaysatspace]

8 minutes ago, tifino said:

but it Does - over one's participation on facepillok itself...   Ozzies are most unhappy about the Loss of their 'Groups' most of all.  Fbk has totally Deleted content/Groups just as effectively as it Deleted a president...

What’s on Facebook’s site is their business. Not yours or any Australian’s. No one can tell you what to say; so can’t you tell Facebook. 

[tifino]

4 minutes ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

What’s on Facebook’s site is their business. Not yours or any Australian’s. No one can tell you what to say; so can’t you tell Facebook. 

 facebooks very structure had made itself the perfect and available communications infrastructure for Community Groups to utilise; to Share possibly life saving information to surrounding populace.

Australians have lost more than just their access to the daily news - and are being Corporate-Punished for the Lawful actions taken by a Federal government 

 

 

... and I am already on a 2nd hand slap from FB for writing what Fbk does not like...

[welovesundaysatspace]

1 minute ago, tifino said:

 facebooks very structure had made itself the perfect and available communications infrastructure for Community Groups to utilise; to Share possibly life saving information to surrounding populace.

Australians have lost more than just their access to the daily news - and are being Corporate-Punished for the Lawful actions taken by a Federal government 

 

 

... and I am already on a 2nd hand slap from FB for writing what Fbk does not like...

None of that is Facebook’s problem. They can do with their business as they wish. If you make yourself dependent on just one supplier, then that’s your own problem. It certainly doesn’t give you any rights over that supplier and you better not screw up that relationship. 

 

[tifino]

a Master/Slave relationship

[zyphodb]

2 hours ago, welovesundaysatspace said:

As of today, I am not aware of any news story that the Australian government has blocked or altered for the public. Please provide specific proof of censorship or refrain from such conspiracy theories. 

Why do I have to provide specific proof for voicing thoughts on a discussion forum? and then be accused of being a conspiracy theorist for having them?

 "Conspiracy theory" was promoted by the CIA in the 60's to be used as a label to shut down discussion of the Kennedy assassination, it now seems to be used by governments and media worldwide to shutdown discussions about anything inconvenient to the narrative that they're trying to push along with censorship of whatever they decide is "fake news" when did we lose the right of free speech???