Australia: Facebook agree's a deal from viewing or sharing news
 

[In response to a proposed law
which would make tech giants
pay for news content on their platforms.

Australians on Thursday woke up to
find that Facebook pages of all local
and global news sites
were unavailable.]


[Several government health and emergency pages
were also blocked - something
Facebook later asserted was a mistake.
Those outside of the country are also unable to read
or access any Australian news publications on the platform.
The Australian government has strongly
criticised the move, saying it demonstrated
the "immense market power of these digital social giants".

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the ban on news
information had
a "huge community impact".
About 17 million Australians visit the
social media site every month.]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-56099523


This is Crazy.

Saw Australians discussing this last night, if not in error it's very Orwellian and a slippery slope imo

Sounds like something China would do rather than somewhere in the Anglosphere...

Facebook can do what they want.
Its their website if they want to block news because the Australia government is trying to stifle them then thats their prerogative.
Australia ban the website if you think its an issue.
Either way I doubt facebook would miss such a small country.

Soon they will just be one way of thinking it seems

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/02...3640591719.jpg


[Facebook has 'attacked a sovereign nation' and
'shown tech giants think they're bigger
than governments': Australian Prime Minister's fury
after Zuckerberg BLOCKS all news and even
Covid public information in row over paying for content
Facebook has banned users in Australia from accessing
or sharing news content
Move comes as politicians vote on law
to charge tech giants for hosting news
Furious PM said it proves tech firms
'think they're bigger than governments'
PM vowed 'we will not be intimidated'
as others called it an 'assault on the nations']

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...vernments.html

It wasn't Australia that did it though, it was Facebook.

I think this story is a little muddied/unclear with people thinking that the Aus government has blocked people sharing news on Facebook... it is actually Facebook that has stopped users in Australia from being able to do so, and it seems to be over some sort of disagreement with the Aussie government (a technicaly/financial/tax disagreement of some sort? I'm not really sure about that part.)

Either way, it's more about Facebook being petty than anyone actually trying to restrict the flow of information. Or rather, Facebook ARE restricting the flow of information, but it's "in retaliation" rather than because they actually have any interest in restricting information.

The obvious answer of course is that it's 2021 and no one should use Facebook for anything other than reporting a lost pet, or asking around for a decent plumber.

Yeah I must admit I picked it up as Australia banning FB when it is the other way around :laugh:

Because the PM wants a Tax for all the Official News feed
that goes on Australia's facebook

...this is pretty horrendous and because of money ...and from a company/platform that’s worth hundred of billions and surely prepared to put human life at risk...a struggle for words of how immoral this is...


Facebook's change also denied Australians access to many key government agencies, including police and emergency services, health departments and the Bureau of Meteorology.

Other pages for charities, politicians, sports groups and other non-news organisations were also affected.
Facebook later released a statement which said these pages had been "inadvertently impacted" and would be reinstated, though it did not give a deadline.
A spokesperson said the company had "taken a broad definition" of the term "news content" in the law.



...and Facebook would have screamed all kinds of wrong had it indeed been the other way around and a country had banned them if that were possible to happen...

Facebook says the law 'fundamentally misunderstands'
the relationship between the site and content publishers,
and instead of attempting to comply it had decided to remove the content]


The Down Under PM
can solve this by telling USA Facebook
he will cancel the tax on News Sites on Facebook.



Other nations could do this
if Facebook paid the Stupid news site tax.

This is Crazy of the Australian PM Scott Morrison

If he won this
we could end up having to pay to be on Facebook.

News Sites that go on Facebook Australia
need Facebook Free, it helps them reach more.

Stupid PM Demands Facebook pays each news site
for having them on Australia Facebook

One of my best friends is Australian, she's been to two gigs in the last couple of weeks :bawling:

Thats Great.

It's not because I'm jealous :laugh:

if a shop in the uk was told by the government that they would need to pay a new tax if they wanted to continue selling newspapers, the shop has every right to so ok, we wont stock newspapers anymore. That's basically what fb are doing. The australian government can hardly complain

Yes its crazy
as Facebook wants to be Free
that why it is so good.

All the Official Australian News Sites
are helped by Free use on Facebook

Morrison Prime Minister is crazy,

It's Started

Now Canada wants money for News Sites,

Ch4HDnews reports


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-a...-idUSKBN2AI349

Facebook Legal Team
have now agreed a Deal with the Australia Gov. Minister.

News sites can go back on Facebook.

Ref: Times Radio DAB.