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In response to a ***PROPOSED LAW*** Facebook is banning Australians from SHARING NEWS!!!! https://t.co/icQiVttWnE
— Brett "Unions 2021" Banditelli (@banditelli) February 17, 2021
This seems like a win-win https://t.co/bomMLKA10b
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) February 17, 2021
Google just announced a deal with News Corp. I hate this. It means that media blackmail works. It sets a terrible precedent for the net. It gives Google yet more power over news. It is a win for the devil, Murdoch. I really hate that.
— Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) February 17, 2021
the Facebook situation is very complicated but I would just point out that any time Facebook says "this only represents 4% of [whatever]" that is typically, objectively, a very large amount of whatever. the company downplays its scale when it is convenient to do so
— tc (@chillmage) February 17, 2021
"Facebook will restrict publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content."
— Alex Kantrowitz (@Kantrowitz) February 17, 2021
Who hurts more from this, Facebook or news orgs? It's going to be one hell of an experiment --> https://t.co/7arI9FWLT8
California: "We tried to classify Uber drivers as employees and accidentally banned all freelance work. At least no-one else can come up with tech regulation dumber than that."
— Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) February 17, 2021
Australia: "Hold my beer..."
!Holy moly! — Facebook has seen enough and will block people from sharing and viewing news articles in Australia. https://t.co/Aa5llJgwJP
— Mark Di Stefano (@MarkDiStef) February 17, 2021
This is indisputably true -- news is a tiny, tiny fraction of Facebook's business. A rounding error. Likely to hurt news orgs much more than it does Zuckerberg https://t.co/JaLlugPGcZ
— Mathew Ingram (@mathewi) February 17, 2021
i am honestly speechless
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) February 17, 2021
and it is only a matter of time until regulators far outside of Australia lose their shit, already hearing rumblings here in the U.S. https://t.co/294oIU4RrJ
I just honestly never thought this was going to happen. Especially after the Google news this morning. https://t.co/ENc78PURPN
— issie lapowsky (@issielapowsky) February 17, 2021
Horrible.
— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) February 17, 2021
Years of complaints that @google and @facebook refusing to pay news organizations for their content and the first (and likely the only) deal they strike is with the Murdochs of Fox News, allowing them further reach and more money to spread disinformation and racism. https://t.co/IDLolVP99S
I will bet you that Google News Showcase traffic will be minimal. That's not the point. It's just an envelope stuffed with cash. Politicians were the bagmen.
— Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) February 17, 2021
Reminder, the Murdoch’s own roughly 70% of newspaper print circulation in Australia. The fact that this deal was brokered in the very final days leading up to the Australia media code passing says a lot about how the power pendulum has swung in the past few weeks/months. https://t.co/gW2EnASgWm
— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) February 17, 2021
There’s a reason Google caved and struck deals with publishers to avoid the law and Facebook didn’t. Facebook has much less to lose from pulling links from the News Feed. More details below.https://t.co/oZkWoXPs3p
— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) February 17, 2021
Big opportunity for a publication covering Australian news but not based in Australia. If you've ever wanted to start a new Australian news outlet, there may never be a better time to do it. https://t.co/W61T82FP5u
— Paul Graham (@paulg) February 17, 2021
Facebook putting thumbscrews to Australian pubs, which i imagine will be immediately felt in audience/revenue measurement pic.twitter.com/wt8AoBmcN8
— rat king (@MikeIsaac) February 17, 2021
Australian publishers won't be able to post *anything* on their pages pic.twitter.com/onMQGn3cgG
— Karissa Bell (@karissabe) February 17, 2021
On the other hand, I’m not too sure if it’s reasonable to charge Facebook money for aggregating links as it doesn’t seem they’re rehosting the news content, but merely the links themselves
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) February 17, 2021
(IANAL) https://t.co/bcGrhwXX1Q
Just me or is it weird for a company that has spent so much time defending "free speech" to.. ban news on an entire continent
— Karissa Bell (@karissabe) February 17, 2021
It will be interesting how this pans out. I've found an unusual amount of Australian "news" in my feed, blogs and such, outside the big players to be littered with misinformation. Will this empower misinformation or stifle it because people won't trust the news in their feed? https://t.co/DPeJiT5h6r
— David Chie (@davidjchie) February 17, 2021
Wild. News Corp basically just muscled Facebook, then Google, into surrendering their magic-internet-everything-for-free position with some combination of lobbying, investigative reporting, Tucker Carlson attacks, Murdochian menace. https://t.co/fzf5EvZi2K
— Ben Smith (@benyt) February 17, 2021
skip past the inconvenient revenue charts of the news media for a bit and assume it to be true that 1) there is money that used to go to newspapers and 2) instead, now, it mostly goes to Facebook and Google (who unlike Craigslist have lots of money)
— John Bergmayer (@bergmayer) February 17, 2021
the law forcing Google and Facebook to negotiate payments to news orgs for linking to their articles is expected to pass this week or next. Facebook had threatened to do this more than once in the last 6 months
— Gerrit De Vynck (@GerritD) February 17, 2021
I’m not sure how comfortable I feel about Facebook Corp being about to block an entire country’s access to news content and all users’ ability to share news.
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) February 17, 2021
And seemingly so easily.
If this happened in Canada all the publishers who were screaming at Facebook for "stealing" their content would suddenly be screaming at Facebook for cutting their traffic in half. https://t.co/SYMbbhPYir
— Chris Selley (@cselley) February 17, 2021
Facebook when its platform is a driving force for genocide vs Facebook when it faces possible regulation pic.twitter.com/XrA8uHzuDY
— Max Fisher (@Max_Fisher) February 17, 2021
(As a reminder, this plan originally said that Google and Facebook had to give 30 days notice of any change to their search and recommendation algorithms. The changes that are made 100 times a day. 30 days notice.)
— Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) February 17, 2021
I made the case that Facebook (and Google) should do exactly this in a post for members @platformer yesterday. https://t.co/olRb4bGH4r
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) February 17, 2021
Sorry, couldn't hear you over concerns that the platforms and media are drowning out conservative voices. https://t.co/DL7m9GAhQP
— Josh Sternberg (@joshsternberg) February 17, 2021
Facebook has also banned the ENTIRE WORLD from getting Australian news content. Holy shit. pic.twitter.com/NXZKS4MeVF
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) February 17, 2021
When Craigslist fucked up the business model of newspapers it didn't divert the revenue of classified ads. It just destroyed it
— John Bergmayer (@bergmayer) February 17, 2021
Good for them. This is exactly the right move. The Australian law is basically a welfare program to make Rupert Murdoch richer. https://t.co/Ht1gZSB2fk
— Mike Masnick (@mmasnick) February 17, 2021
Though if we were making a list, the EU's sudden realisation in December that it had accidentally banned tech platforms from trying to spot child abuse material should be pretty high on the list as well...
— Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) February 17, 2021
This hurts publishers - sure. But it also hurts Australian Facebook users in terms of their quick access to news information . There is NO ‘connecting people for a better world’ in this behaviour or hesitancy over possible harms. Just a ‘fuck you and your legislation’ . Okay.
— emily bell (@emilybell) February 17, 2021
We were prepared to launch Facebook News in Australia and significantly increase our investments with local publishers, however, we were only prepared to do this with the right rules in place. We will now prioritize investments to other countries.
— Campbell Brown (@campbell_brown) February 17, 2021
A tale of two Aussies.https://t.co/4C96OFneJx pic.twitter.com/OCQNqbjawr
— Chris Messina (@chrismessina) February 17, 2021
Wow Facebook went through with its threat. News content banned from FB in Australia. https://t.co/5UCj7mVtwi
— Josh Taylor (@joshgnosis) February 17, 2021
Is this a promise or a threat? https://t.co/En05zoR2aE
— Brad Sams (@bdsams) February 17, 2021
Here is where the rubber hits the road for @facebook and it’s civic intentions. (Forget the Oversight Board for one minute). It won’t comply with a democratic government law which it doesn’t agree with which costs it money - and removes all accredited publishers including PSBs pic.twitter.com/25lzTkJkqi
— emily bell (@emilybell) February 17, 2021
Publishers choose to share their stories on Facebook because they get value from doing so, from finding new readers to getting new subscribers. We provide free tools, products and programs to support their goals.
— Campbell Brown (@campbell_brown) February 17, 2021
This is an obvious but good reminder that when FB executives say they "want" updated internet regulations, what they really mean is they want regulation that they helped craft https://t.co/vEm3uVoqSu
— Kurt Wagner (@KurtWagner8) February 17, 2021
Facebook unleashes the nuclear option in Australia: The company just announced it will block Australian news publishers and Australian users of Facebook from posting, viewing or sharing any news content whatsoever
— Mathew Ingram (@mathewi) February 17, 2021
Murdoch has spent the last decade trying to force Google to just give him money, and has (ridiculously) convinced a bunch of politicians to agree with him (and some useful idiots elsewhere). Seems like it worked. https://t.co/b4ohs2Cz1O
— Mike Masnick (@mmasnick) February 17, 2021
Whoa. So Google caved to Rupert Murdoch, and Facebook didn’t.
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) February 17, 2021
Stakes were higher for Google, though: it would have had to shut down in Australia. FB can just switch off link sharing. https://t.co/kIPcI86aCE
If anybody want to continue to swoon over Facebook’s quasi ‘look, we are making laws!’ nonsense, please bear this in mind. This is why expenditure on journalism support and free speech chin stroking is explicitly a lobbying exercise . They like the laws that like them
— emily bell (@emilybell) February 17, 2021
Facebook does damage to the free press and public sphere in undemocratic countries - regretfully - because it is the law they have to follow. Facebook now does active damage to the operation of the public sphere in DEMOCRATIC countries ...because of the laws it won’t follow.
— emily bell (@emilybell) February 17, 2021
A chilling line: "We were prepared to launch Facebook News in Australia and significantly increase our investments with local publishers, however, we were only prepared to do this with the right rules in place" https://t.co/inaSDpyLNJ
— Carl Franzen (@carlfranzen) February 17, 2021
Google cuts a deal with Murdoch/Australia. Facebook says no way. https://t.co/caIZvcWlLS
— Peter Kafka (@pkafka) February 17, 2021
one can see the through-line between this Australia incident to the more minor Maryland tax fight we've also been covering. the question, "who pays?" is an important one that tech giants tend to answer in word and deed by saying, "not us" https://t.co/wQQVQMbMy6
— Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) February 17, 2021
Funny how Facebook is much more efficient at blocking news than they are with QAnon. https://t.co/EQaRpWM8xo
— Robin Berjon (@robinberjon) February 17, 2021
(Remember when Liverpool just banned The Sun newspaper and then decades later there were studies about how it had led to decline in anti-europe sentiment. Idk. What happens when a country is cut off from seeing news on Facebook?)
— Mark Di Stefano (@MarkDiStef) February 17, 2021
The Facebook pages of Australia's major newspapers right now pic.twitter.com/TufdmreWSY
— Max Chalmers (@maxchalm) February 17, 2021
Good point here. How can Facebook ever say "we're complying with local laws" as a get out, ethically, when it has proven its willingness to simply pull out if it finds those laws disagreeable. https://t.co/puKK0BZbkl
— Dave Lee (@DaveLeeFT) February 17, 2021
Rough day for whoever the Dan Bongino of Australia is! https://t.co/zRV6GdoT2e
— Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) February 17, 2021
Seeing Facebook's move today in Australia, I'm reminded of when a company exec told news publishers that if they didn't work with the company, she'd be holding their hands in hospice care.https://t.co/rPmj4E6MqF pic.twitter.com/cZC0cGGFgG
— Ryan Mac? (@RMac18) February 17, 2021
Bet Google will hold this up as evidence Australia doesn’t need a new law forcing it to share revenues with publishers. https://t.co/HMBx6OMIGC
— Brian Fung (@b_fung) February 17, 2021
Thinking about the positively tortured debates over allowing white supremacists and dictators to remain on Facebook, but if there's money to be lost, all of Australian media is banned just like that? https://t.co/cw4I3hkkCW
— issie lapowsky (@issielapowsky) February 17, 2021
Congratulations to the human pretzels in my timeline arguing that Facebook is both uniquely evil AND should be the primary news source for all Australians
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) February 17, 2021
FB says news makes up just 4% of the content in user feeds. So FB is basically betting that people won't miss news all that much.
— Kurt Wagner (@KurtWagner8) February 17, 2021
And if FB had agreed to these terms in Australia, they would have faced the same fight in every other country
"You call that a knife? *This* is a knife!" - Facebook https://t.co/atDP0iUBzu
— Gabe Rivera (@gaberivera) February 17, 2021
What angers me most is that *journalism* organizations had *no* shame and *no* transparency about their conflict of interest, cashing in their political capital to buy political favor and conspiracy to blackmail the tech companies. Journalism *never* reported its conflict.
— Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) February 17, 2021
Facebook, whatever the rights or wrongs of this case, dribbles cash on breathless ngos and newsrooms to ‘fight misinformation’ or ‘fact check’ , but when profits are at stake - in democratic AND undemocratic governments - it will throw ALL journalism under the bus. No hesitation
— emily bell (@emilybell) February 17, 2021
In the end, Google & Facebook have a big bucket of baksheesh that will go to old proprietors and their shareholders (not journalists; don't fool yourselves), keeping them around a little longer and keeping upstart competitors out of the market.
— Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) February 17, 2021
Google is actually evil, though. https://t.co/9hNG3toi2C
— Jillian C. York (@jilliancyork) February 17, 2021
I expect this will be temporary. In the meantime, though, there are worse things than Australians getting their news from somewhere other than Facebook.
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) February 17, 2021
Big news: Hours after Google cut a deal with News Corp, Facebook pulls the trigger and restricts publishers and people from sharing news links in Australiahttps://t.co/ozkeDzZ5jD
— rat king (@MikeIsaac) February 17, 2021
Apple, too. Sources described to me the big Apple News / WSJ deal from a few years back as a "payoff to Rupert," plain and simple. https://t.co/cYFBtp5l8g
— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) February 17, 2021
I hope in the future, we can include news for people in Australia once again. For now, we continue to be focused on bringing Facebook News and other new products to more countries. We will continue to invest heavily in news around the world. More here: https://t.co/zlwS0HlrPD
— Campbell Brown (@campbell_brown) February 17, 2021
speech wouldn’t have been free if the bargaining code was passed. it would have been extremely expensive, and the terms would have been set by Rupert Murdoch. so Facebook opted out
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) February 17, 2021
The real threat to FB could be people using Facebook less than they do now because without news it is a worse product...and if that means people go to more news sites directly...good?
— John Bergmayer (@bergmayer) February 17, 2021
We’ve reluctantly made the decision to restrict the availability of news on Facebook in Australia. Our goal was to find resolution that strengthened collaboration with publishers, but the legislation fails to recognize fundamental relationship between us & news organizations
— Campbell Brown (@campbell_brown) February 17, 2021
Without data on how people click on links to news sites, FB's ability to gather data on what people are interested in is lessened. But it's also likely that it has enough other sources of data that it doesn't matter targeting-wise
— John Bergmayer (@bergmayer) February 17, 2021
+ "Today we made an incredibly difficult decision to restrict the availability of news on Facebook in Australia,” Facebook’s @campbell_brown writes >> https://t.co/DZzCYFcoir
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) February 17, 2021
Congratulations to Australia https://t.co/zeLPgt0CnA
— Ben Dreyfuss (@bendreyfuss) February 17, 2021
Facebook blocks Australian users and publishers from viewing or sharing news https://t.co/jIzYoxyn1m
— Lenore Taylor (@lenoretaylor) February 17, 2021
Facebook to restrict Australian publishers and users sharing or viewing news content https://t.co/aK2X4k6pUr
— Kassandra Seven (@KassandraSeven) February 17, 2021
Facebook to block Australian users and publishers from viewing or sharing news ? https://t.co/DMyN0mo7P6
— Amrita Bhinder (@amritabhinder) February 17, 2021
Hey all: We saw @Facebook's update blocking news in Australia. To our Australian friends & readers, we're incredibly sorry about this. We'll post EVERYTHING we do on FB here on Twitter so you won't miss anything from us (if that matters to you). Stay safe. https://t.co/4ztSARK2Rw
— SnitchSeeker.com (@SnitchSeeker) February 17, 2021
Meanwhile, @facebook taking a different approach https://t.co/LOklWrxT2N pic.twitter.com/9rp7yWiVJF
— Mark Scott (@markscott82) February 17, 2021
Morrison’s shambolic handling of Facebook demonstrates the perils of enlisting Murdoch to co-design media policy. If we want strong diverse media we need comprehensive policy guided by best evidence. Senate Inquiry on #MurdochRoyalCommission starts Friday. https://t.co/zNpY446pNX
— Kevin Rudd (@MrKRudd) February 17, 2021
It’s fascinating watching this play out.https://t.co/MB2fJg6PZK
— James Randall (@jamesdrandall) February 18, 2021
$FB
— Adrián Hernández (@adrivalue) February 17, 2021
"Facebook blocks Australian users and publishers from viewing or sharing news"
Maybe we should update Porter's Five Forces model for the Big Tech.https://t.co/nqrQIi6XrD pic.twitter.com/wFm5S16dAA
Facebook blocks all Australian users and publishers from reading or sharing news https://t.co/2tx1gQBl71
— Freedom of the Press (@FreedomofPress) February 17, 2021