Discussion

• @joshfrydenberg Josh Frydenberg on x

  This morning, I had a constructive discussion with Mark Zuckerberg from #Facebook. He raised a few remaining issues with the Government's news media bargaining code and we agreed to continue our conversation to try to find a pathway forward.

• @caseybriggs Casey Briggs on x

  Posts have been removed from the Queensland and SA health department Facebook pages https://twitter.com/...

• @emilybell Emily Bell on x

  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 ht…

• @mikeisaac Rat King on x

  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 Australia https://about.fb.com/...

• @max_fisher Max Fisher on x

  Facebook when its platform is a driving force for genocide vs Facebook when it faces possible regulation https://twitter.com/...

• @campbell_brown Campbell Brown on x

  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

• @davidcicilline David Cicilline on x

  If it is not already clear, Facebook is not compatible with democracy. Threatening to bring an entire country to its knees to agree to Facebook's terms is the ultimate admission of monopoly power. https://www.cnn.com/...

• @mathewi Mathew Ingram on x

  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

• @maxchalm Max Chalmers on x

  The Facebook pages of Australia's major newspapers right now https://twitter.com/...

• @katecrawford Kate Crawford on x

  It happened: Facebook just went off the deep end in Australia. They are blocking *all* news content to Australians, and *no* Australian media can post news. This is what showdowns between states and platforms look like. It's deplatforming at scale. https://about.fb.com/...

• @issielapowsky Issie Lapowsky on x

  I just honestly never thought this was going to happen. Especially after the Google news this morning. https://www.protocol.com/...

• @emilybell Emily Bell on x

  Facebook's response to Australian news reforms needs to be understood in the following context. It is not a consistently pro-democratic company, and it is not an accountability platform https://about.fb.com/...

• @jameeljaffer Jameel Jaffer on x

  Facebook's Oversight Board should use its narrow authority over content-moderation decisions to force Facebook to address much more consequential questions relating to platform design. https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x

  This is big: Australia said it wanted FB to pay publishers for the news links that people share to News Feed FB responded by blocking people in Australia from sharing news links at all. https://about.fb.com/...

• @kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x

  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://twitter.com/...

• @mattnavarra Matt Navarra on x

  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. And seemingly so easily.

• @campbell_brown Campbell Brown on x

  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.

• @maxchalm Max Chalmers on x

  Oh my god they've done it. Facebook has blocked news in Australia from this morning. This is the website of the ABC, Australia's national broadcaster right now https://twitter.com/...

• @benedictevans Benedict Evans on x

  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.” Australia: “Hold my beer...”

• @matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x

  Facebook has also banned the ENTIRE WORLD from getting Australian news content. Holy shit. https://twitter.com/...

• @mmasnick Mike Masnick on x

  This is literally not an admission of monopoly power. This is such a bad take. Facebook is not “threatening to bring an entire country to its knees” it's a country saying “you need to pay to link” and Facebook responding by saying “okay, that's a bad deal, so we're out.” https://…

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  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

• @rmac18 @rmac18 on x

  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://www.theguardian.com/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x

  Facebook deleted huge amounts of important content on a critical piece of social infrastructure in order to threaten a democratic society's sovereign power. The details are complex, the underlying power play is simple. https://twitter.com/...

• @antoniogm Antonio García Martínez on x

  Completely predictable. Sucks for Australia, but I will declare an ‘I told you so’ moment. https://twitter.com/...

• @normative Julian Sanchez on x

  The government decided to impose a cost on X; a company decided X wasn't worth that cost, so they've stopped doing it. This is not necessarily extortion; maybe the product just isn't that valuable to them. https://twitter.com/...

• @yaeleisenstat Yael Eisenstat on x

  Translation: “We welcome regulation, but only if it is 100% on our terms and to our benefit. Otherwise, f*#k you. We are more powerful than your government and will make you hurt”. Did I interpret Facebook's response accurately? https://about.fb.com/...

• @matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x

  Facebook censoring all of Australia shows why Mark Zuckerberg absolutely needs to arrested for fraud and price-fixing. If you don't apply law and order to the powerful, eventually the powerful begin writing the laws and giving the orders. https://mattstoller.substack.com/ ...

• @kenklippenstein Ken Klippenstein on x

  Feel like it should be a bigger story that Facebook banned *an entire continent* from posting news articles just to avoid paying a nominal tax https://www.npr.org/...

• @paulfletchermp Paul Fletcher on x

  Speaking in the Parl't to sum up in the debate on the News Media Bargaining Code. The Bill has now passed the House and moves to the Senate. https://twitter.com/...

• @mattburgess1 Matt Burgess on x

  Wow. Facebook is blocking news publishers in Australia over plans to make tech firms pay for news content. Publishers: can't share or post on their Pages People in Australia: cannot view or share Australian or international news content on Facebook https://about.fb.com/... https:…

• @evelyndouek Evelyn Douek on x

  Whatever you think of the Bargaining Code (and I happen to think it's Not Great), fb dropping the ban in the middle of the Australian night and not adequately containing the collateral damage during a pandemic is calculated for impact and unconscionable. https://twitter.com/...

• @mathewi Mathew Ingram on x

  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://twitter.com/...

• @mikeisaac Rat King on x

  first quick thing I am fascinated to see what sort of information — misinformation? — fills the void in countries that will no longer allow news publisher link sharing https://www.nytimes.com/...

• @andrewlawton Andrew Lawton on x

  News publishers need Facebook more than Facebook needs news publishers. https://twitter.com/...

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  Whoa. So Google caved to Rupert Murdoch, and Facebook didn't. Stakes were higher for Google, though: it would have had to shut down in Australia. FB can just switch off link sharing. https://twitter.com/...

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  I expect this will be temporary. In the meantime, though, there are worse things than Australians getting their news from somewhere other than Facebook.

• @martynmcl Martyn McLaughlin on x

  Facebook's contempt for journalism has always been hidden in plain sight, but this shows just how far it'll go to protect its profits at the expense of established democracies. Australia may call its bluff, but checking Big Tech's power requires a focused, multilateral effort. ht…

• @shanehuntley Shane Huntley on x

  @evelyndouek Yeah, again not trying to defend FB's specific actions but this but IMO this deeply flawed law was always going to lead to collateral damage. Wouldn't have happened with a workable news code that didn't break how the Internet works.

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  The real face of Facebook emerges https://twitter.com/...

• @vindugoel Vindu Goel on x

  For a company that claims to care about public discourse and named its main product feature “News Feed,” this is an odd move. This raw exercise of power certainly won't help Facebook beat back the various antitrust investigations around the world. https://twitter.com/...

• @slpng_giants @slpng_giants on x

  Could not agree more. The more @facebook acts like their own nation state, selectively choosing which country's rules apply to them and handpicking their own judicial branch, the more dangerous they are to the world. That's why the US needs to regulate them once and for all. http…

• @mrkrudd Kevin Rudd on x

  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://www.theguardian…

• @akivamcohen Akiva Cohen on x

  And there's no universe where “the Australian government should force Facebook to allow its users to engage in conduct that will cost Facebook millions of dollars” makes any sense at all.

• @imusing Ingrid M on x

  and fb announced it will block access to all major media links this morning. And then, unlike some people, fb did exactly what it announced it would do. So this namedropping nonsense is an admission of complete failure. https://twitter.com/...

• @akivamcohen Akiva Cohen on x

  This is a really fucking stupid take, Matt, even for you. Australia told Facebook “if you let people share news here, or let them share our news sites, you'll need to pay for it” So Facebook said “OK, I won't let them do that, then.” Entirely predictable. https://twitter.com/...

• @senatorshoshana @senatorshoshana on x

  AllTrails is not compatible with democracy because you can't post news only hiking https://twitter.com/...

• @bernardkeane Bernard Keane on x

  When journalists from big media organisation say “just go straight to our website, you don't need Facebook”, they're demonstrating another consequence of the Facebook shutdown: big media incumbents will be inconvenienced, but their small competitors face an existential threat.

• @matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x

  This decision by Facebook to censor all of Australia is why I was so infuriated by last week's New Yorker story on the Facebook Oversight Board. The question of censorship and content moderation isn't cultural, it's financial.

• @johnbattelle John Battelle on x

  Well I believe this is brinksmanship, it's also very interesting to imagine how Facebook will define what the “news” is that can no longer be shared. The past few years have seen the company work very hard to not have to make that definition. https://twitter.com/...

• @nickbryantny Nick Bryant on x

  Australia is waking up to a media landscape transformed. Big implications for other governments taking on Facebook and Google.... https://twitter.com/...

• @carolecadwalla Carole Cadwalladr on x

  Rep Cicilline has been leading the antitrust hearings in Congress. And this is absolutely on the money. This is mob behaviour. When you can turn off the news *to an entire country* - AND THEN DO - the gig is finally up. https://twitter.com/...

• @brooklynmarie Brooke Binkowski on x

  Oh look, @Facebook is so mad at the possibility of actually allowing journalists to make money off their hard work that they're taking their ball and going home lol https://twitter.com/...

• @mikeisaac Rat King on x

  Facebook putting thumbscrews to Australian pubs, which i imagine will be immediately felt in audience/revenue measurement https://twitter.com/...

• @halsinger Hal Singer on x

  Facebook's decision to block news from Australia, Amazon's decision to preemptively sue New York for having the audacity to impose workplace protections, and Google's threat to shutter search all militate in favor of a breakup. These companies are proving not to be governable.

• @hacks4pancakes Lesley Carhart on x

  This is like, such a perfect opportunity for someone to sweep in with like, a really great reader program that can pull news articles from multiple sites and oh wait https://twitter.com/...

• @jeffjarvis Jeff Jarvis on x

  And I am disappointed that the current proprietors of the net, Google and Facebook, did not fight hard enough for the principles of an open internet. I get it. They're companies. They have the money to make this go away. But the net will suffer.

• @bendreyfuss Ben Dreyfuss on x

  Congratulations to Australia https://www.protocol.com/...

• @gerritd Gerrit De Vynck on x

  Facebook dropped its decision to block posting news in Australia in the middle of Australia's night, after a weekend where the government watered down the bill https://twitter.com/...

• @withmeaa Meaa on x

  Credible journalism is a check on the spread of misinformation. This irresponsible move by Facebook will encourage the dissemination of fake news, which is particularly dangerous during the COVID pandemic and is a betrayal of its Australian audiences. https://www.theguardian.com/…

• @matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x

  Focusing on the Facebook Oversight Board is a shiny object when the real question is Facebook engaging in censorship on behalf of advertising money. All those idiotic corrupt elites who sit on that board - Facebook just censored AUSTRALIA. https://about.fb.com/...

• @emilybell Emily Bell on x

  .so.....Facebook has erased all manner of links - way beyond just news - including its own page. In a pandemic . https://twitter.com/...

• @max_fisher Max Fisher on x

  Some smart folks do consider Australia's regs too harsh or FB's response justifiable. Still, to understand why & when FB throttles access, notable that it declined to do so when the UN said it “substantively contributed” to sentiment that had mobs throwing babies into open fires.

• @bonerman_inc Uzumaki Wario on x

  breaking news: australian government to add “127.0.0.1 facebook dot com” to the HOSTS.TXT file on the one windows 98se computer we use to access all outgoing internet

• @damiancollins Damian Collins on x

  The spreaders of hate speech & disinformation can do their worst in Australia, it's the real news Mark Zuckerberg is stopping you from sharing. Facebook is protecting profits at the expense of democracy, so we need to stand up for each other in this fight https://www.smh.com.au/.…

• @marklangham2 Mark Langham on x

  Hi @JoshFrydenberg. Your “constructive” chat with Zuckerberg this morning. Did it touch on the bit where FB takes down all the government health pages or are you just continuing your run of being mind-bogglingly incompetent? Seriously, dude...

• @mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x

  Not joking! Facebook seems to not enjoy the hassle of being a flashpoint for politics, and chasing social shares has been corrosive for media. A conscious decoupling could be good.

• @robinberjon Robin Berjon on x

  Funny how Facebook is much more efficient at blocking news than they are with QAnon. https://twitter.com/...

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  As @mmasnick says, this is a lot more complex than the first react. That said: Cloddish execution of negotiations by Facebook makes them look real evil. Which is amazing given News Corp. is run by Rupert “Uncle Satan” Murdoch . https://twitter.com/...

• @imusing Ingrid M on x

  citizens do not need fb for news. It is a convenience at best. In constraint, media orgs want fb traffic to drive clicks that can be monetised into ad revenue. It is media corporations and by extension their employees who lose here, not “citizens” in a “democracy”.

• @kashhill Kashmir Hill on x

  This is quite the society-wide lab experiment. https://twitter.com/...

• @wilkiemp Andrew Wilkie MP on x

  Being a big American company doesn't give Facebook the right to act like a bully or to think it's a law unto itself in Australia. #politas #auspol https://andrewwilkie.org/...

• @domp Dom Powell on x

  time for us all to switch to Microsoft's own social network: LinkedIn

• @wvessna Veszna on x

  I don't even want to start thinking about the implications of this for countries with oppressive regimes where majority of the media is state controlled and social media is still an important, if not the most important platform for independent voices https://twitter.com/...

• @zaidjilani Zaid Jilani on x

  Why is a capital strike by Facebook being treated as like a florist blog banning a commenter or something? Facebook has a dominating presence over the Internet and is a major component of economics and governance. Its Standard Oil or the railroads in 2021... https://twitter.com/.…

• @jeffreyatucker Jeffrey A Tucker on x

  This is just incredible. It could really hurt traffic for Australian media sources. The upside is that people who turn to other aggregators — as they should have long ago. https://twitter.com/...

• @3awneilmitchell Neil Mitchell on x

  A message for Mr Zuckerberg: We don't like bullies in Australia. @Facebook https://twitter.com/...

• @parismarx Paris Marx on x

  Facebook's decision to restrict sharing of all news in Australia and news from Australian publishers globally is further evidence we shouldn't be ceding digital public spaces to private companies. We need public platforms that place the social good before private interest. https:…

• @paulg Paul Graham on x

  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://twitter.com/...

• @emilybell Emily Bell on x

  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.

• @emilybell Emily Bell on x

  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

• @emilybell Emily Bell on x

  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.

• @bergmayer John Bergmayer on x

  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?

• @bergmayer John Bergmayer on x

  When Craigslist fucked up the business model of newspapers it didn't divert the revenue of classified ads. It just destroyed it

• @bergmayer John Bergmayer on x

  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)

• @bergmayer John Bergmayer on x

  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

• @daveleeft Dave Lee on x

  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://twitter.com/...

• @tonyromm Tony Romm on x

  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://twitter.com/...

• @chillmage @chillmage on x

  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

• @emilybell Emily Bell on x

  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

• @wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x

  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 (IANAL) https://twitter.com/...

• @tonyromm Tony Romm on x

  i am honestly speechless 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://twitter.com/...

• @kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x

  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. And if FB had agreed to these terms in Australia, they would have faced the same fight in every other country

• @chrismessina Chris Messina on x

  A tale of two Aussies. https://www.techmeme.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @kevinroose Kevin Roose on x

  My more sincere take on this is that it's probably good for media outlets to decrease their reliance on social media generally, and that FB would be better if all external links (not just news) were disallowed, so maybe this is fine?

• @gaberivera Gabe Rivera on x

  “You call that a knife? *This* is a knife!” - Facebook https://twitter.com/...

• @sarafischer Sara Fischer on x

  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://www.axios.com/...

• @mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x

  This seems like a win-win https://twitter.com/...

• @cselley Chris Selley on x

  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://twitter.com/...

• @gerritd Gerrit De Vynck on x

  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

• @campbell_brown Campbell Brown on x

  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.

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  I made the case that Facebook (and Google) should do exactly this in a post for members @platformer yesterday. https://www.platformer.news/ ...

• @campbell_brown Campbell Brown on x

  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://www.facebook.com/..…

• @karissabe Karissa Bell on x

  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

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  @karissabe @NateIngraham 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

• @kevinroose Kevin Roose on x

  Rough day for whoever the Dan Bongino of Australia is! https://about.fb.com/...

• @benedictevans Benedict Evans on x

  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...

• @benedictevans Benedict Evans on x

  (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.)

• @banditelli @banditelli on x

  In response to a ***PROPOSED LAW*** Facebook is banning Australians from SHARING NEWS!!!! https://about.fb.com/...

• @karissabe Karissa Bell on x

  Australian publishers won't be able to post *anything* on their pages https://twitter.com/...

• @joshgnosis Josh Taylor on x

  Facebook's news ban hammer having a lot of collateral damage. https://twitter.com/...

• @sallymcmanus Sally McManus on x

  So @Facebook has blocked access to our website. We are not a news organisation. Australian workers can not now find out about their rights at work via @Facebook. This is disgraceful & needs to be reversed immediately https://twitter.com/...

• @blakejohnson Blake Johnson on x

  A few weeks out from a state election, the opposition leader has been banned by Facebook's arbitrary decision. Wildly dangerous. https://twitter.com/...

• @sarah_collard_ Sarah Collard on x

  It's not just big news orgs bearing the brunt of the News ban by @Facebook. Smaller Indigenous and community media orgs are too. Vital for getting info out about COVID, telecommunications outages and emergencies to communities. https://twitter.com/...

• @albomp Anthony Albanese on x

  During a global pandemic, Australians can't access state health departments on Facebook. On a day of flood and fire warnings in Queensland and WA, Australians can't access the Bureau of Meteorology on Facebook. The Morrison Government needs to fix this today.

• @zaidjilani Zaid Jilani on x

  Just a private company, controlling chokepoints of vital information and shutting them down when they're trying to intimidate a country's government. https://twitter.com/...

• @montebovill Monte Bovill on x

  It's not just news pages, @BOM_au has disappeared from Facebook https://twitter.com/...

• @juliacarriew Julia Carrie Wong on x

  you can't check the weather in australia but you can still spread racist propaganda based on a white nationalist conspiracy theory bc that's the facebook we know and love https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @sihorrock Simon Horrocks on x

  Why do some people seem to think social media platforms are a public service? I don't remember thinking that when I joined Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the rest... https://twitter.com/...

• @sussanley Sussan Ley on x

  The Bureau of Meteorology's Facebook page has been impacted by the sudden Facebook news content restrictions. Weather info is always available at https://www.bom.gov.au/ and on the #BOM Weather app. @bom_au, @bom_qld, @bom_nsw, @bom_vic, @bom_tas, @bom_sa, @bom_wa @bom_nt

• @natsils_ Natsils on x

  We are extremely concerned that NATSILS has been blocked by #FacebookAustralia, so have some of our members. This is a human rights issue, silencing the voices of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people, our representative peak bodies. This is how we connect with community. ht…

• @willoremus Will Oremus on x

  I have seen some commentators imply that Australians will be better off getting their news elsewhere than Facebook. But banning links to news articles sounds like a recipe for misinformation and conspiracies flourishing with impunity on the platform, no? https://about.fb.com/...

• @issielapowsky Issie Lapowsky on x

  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://twitter.com/...

• @jason_om Jason Om on x

  SA and Queensland health department feeds blocked by Facebook. ACT Government also down. #auspol #facebook https://twitter.com/...

• @raecooper1 Rae Cooper on x

  From what I can see here today #facebook has blocked access not only to Oz news sites but to domestic and family violence organisations, bushfire information, trade unions, weather reports. All critical services protecting the community. Facebook 🗑, Yours #australia

• @anetmcc Anet McClintock on x

  Well clearly #Facebook hasn't banned all Australian news media... Pretty nervous about the fact that disinformation pages are now truly the only source of ‘news’ left on the website & the effect on growing right-wing populism in Australia https://twitter.com/...

• @carolecadwalla Carole Cadwalladr on x

  Amazing. Facebook's self-appointed Oversight Board escapes its Australian news filter & is still there. But the *Real Facebook Oversight Board* pressure group has been banned. I'm shocked, @nick_clegg. SHOCKED. https://twitter.com/...

• @clairlemon @clairlemon on x

  Facebook didn't just shut down Australian news sites, it shut down government agency pages: Hospitals, Fire & Rescue, Bureau of Meteorology, just hours after Zuckerberg spoke to our Govt & without warning. If a foreign government did this(e.g China), it would be called terrorism.

• @davidfarrier David Farrier on x

  australia — get ready for your facebook experience to be filled with nothing but dangerous misinformation and disinformation. they've essentially just banned sharing real, external news on facebook in australia. this is terrifying — https://www.theverge.com/...

• @emilybell Emily Bell on x

  @dailypostdan @MikeIsaac @damiencave Dan - my working hypothesis is this is because it's been implemented on the self-certified ‘news media’ properties ...which is *everything* ...does it look like that where you are ?

• @themja MJA on x

  Our Facebook page has been blocked. We will continue to post all our open access content here on Twitter and of course, all our content is available at https://mja.com.au/ you can also find us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @emilygorcenski Emily G on x

  Just absolutely incredible. I never want to hear about how good these people are at algorithms ever again. https://twitter.com/...

• @dailypostdan Dan McGarry on x

  @MikeIsaac @emilybell @damiencave Also literary sites, and some Pacific island news sites. Official public health sites are blocked, but anti-vax and COVID conspiracy pages apparently aren't.

• @belindajones68 @belindajones68 on x

  The Libs whinging today about Facebook, after goading Facebook for months to quit Australia, is like the Brexit voters in the UK whinging they can't get their French Brie anymore You made your bed, now lay in it. How good is an election year @ScottMorrisonMP? 🐝 #auspol #qt

• @emilygorcenski Emily G on x

  (This is not an accident. This is punitive.)

• @davemilbo David Milner on x

  Can everyone test something for me please? This is gonna sound sus, but could you go to Facebook and try to share The Shot's article from today? I'm trying to work out if we have an accidental Facebook media monopoly in Australia, because I could totally make that work.

• @shalailah Shalailah Medhora on x

  FB has taken our page down, but has kept up pages like Fri*ndly J0rdies and Craig Kelly. Cool cool.

• @leesawatego Leesa Watego on x

  Looking at First Nations media pages on Facebook. Can't see any NITV posts this morning. Alot of Indigenous communities rely on Facebook for information & news. Let's see how this plays out. 🤔

• @kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x

  Facebook's team is smart. Don't think this was entirely unexpected or accidental. https://twitter.com/...

• @daveleeft Dave Lee on x

  This is going really well https://twitter.com/...

• @nat_whiting Natalie Whiting on x

  #PNG and pacific news watchers, Australian news currently can't be shared on Facebook, including on ABC's @radioaustralia page. With how popular Facebook is for sharing news here, please spread the word that the stories are still available on news websites https://www.abc.net.au/…

• @thequartering @thequartering on x

  I cannot believe I am about to say this. The #DeleteFacebook trend is driven by Facebook blocking links in Australia after their moronic government tried to pull the same shit the EU did and CHARGE facebook for people posting links. Facebook did the right thing *vomits

• @abcnews @abcnews on x

  Facebook is restricting access to news content in Australia - but don't worry, we're still bringing you the latest. Download our news app here: https://www.abc.net.au/app/ https://twitter.com/...

• @andrewbeatty Andrew Beatty on x

  Facebook confirms they didn't mean to knock out homepages of Australia emergency response services (in the middle of a pandemic, bushfire and flood warnings) per @robertsonholly https://twitter.com/...

• @andrewbeatty Andrew Beatty on x

  #UPDATE @AFP (Brisbane) Several Australian emergency services have been hit by Facebook's ban on sharing news content Down Under Thursday, with official pages that carry public warnings about Covid outbreaks, bushfires and hurricanes rendered blank.

• @bom_au @bom_au on x

  The Bureau's #Facebook page has been impacted by the broader Facebook changes. The latest forecasts and warnings are always available at https://www.bom.gov.au/, on the #BOMweather app, and posted to our national, and State/Territory Twitter accounts https://media.bom.gov.au/...

• @tobiloftus Tobi Loftus on x

  So Facebook appears to have banned its own page. https://twitter.com/...

• @jasecam @jasecam on x

  @CaseyBriggs New legislation that passed Senate last night is so broad that Health, Weather and other public service pages can be deemed as publisher content that Facebook must pay for. This ridiculous mess all caused by Fed Govt trying to keep Rupert happy. Massive own goal by F…

• @orskov @orskov on x

  Aside from the absurdity that the biggest amplifier of disinformation will block the most reliable news brands, Facebook gets one thing right: “Google Search is inextricably intertwined with news and publishers do not voluntarily provide their content.” https://about.fb.com/...

• @davidjchie David Chie on x

  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? htt…

• @jayrosen_nyu Jay Rosen on x

  “For journalism to become more sustainable in the long run, it can't rely on handouts from the biggest tech companies of the moment to the biggest publishers of the moment.” https://www.platformer.news/ ... @CaseyNewton's smart read on the Australian law that targets the plarform…

• @billyez2 Billy Easley II on x

  If the Australian law is bad what does a good deal for journalism and platforms look like? I haven't heard any persuasive policies. https://twitter.com/...

• @gaberivera Gabe Rivera on x

  (tolls for hyperlinks are bad) https://twitter.com/...

• @nxthompson @nxthompson on x

  “I think Facebook basically did the right thing, and Google basically did the wrong thing.” @CaseyNewton on the Australian social media news (and the misguided apoplexy it has caused) today. https://www.platformer.news/ ...

• @caseynewton Casey Newton on x

  The thing about Australia's deal with Google — and one it might still reach with Facebook — is that it's bad for *journalism*. https://www.platformer.news/ ... https://twitter.com/...

• @karaswisher Kara Swisher on x

  This is exactly right. Murdoch, as always, is the satanic villain here, though FB looks bad due to its execution of this and also the distrust it has engendered over the years. https://twitter.com/...

• @adamnash Adam Nash on x

  Good read on the situation w/ @Facebook @Google and Australia by @CaseyNewton. Surprised this isn't more of a diplomatic issue between the US & Australia. https://www.platformer.news/ ...

• @evadienel Eva Dienel on x

  Ok, so this deeper dive is interesting and gets into political cronyism that's happening behind the scenes in Oz. Also offers some good alternatives on how to ensure money from any regulation would actually go into journalism: https://www.platformer.news/ .... https://twitter.com…

• @swesterman Scott Westerman on x

  @CaseyNewton on how Facebook and Google are taking very different approaches as Australia tries to make them pay publishers for the right to share links to news content. Feels a lot like my Cable days when the sports networks held us hostage. https://www.platformer.news/ ...

• @laurenweinstein Lauren Weinstein on x

  @gaberivera This is the key point. Once you start down the road of pay-to-link, the entire underpinning of the Web collapses. Competition reduces vastly, and small players are frozen out. Users by and large don't have a clue of how much they have to lose in this battle.

• @waxy @waxy on x

  Facebook calls Australia's bluff, bans external links to Australian news media: I can't believe I'm siding with Facebook on any issue, but forcing platforms to pay publishers for links to their sites... https://www.platformer.news/ ...

• @_claireconnelly Claire Connelly on x

  'I wish Australia would take Facebook's rejection as a sign to rethink its approach to media regulation entirely. It could just tax companies based on their revenues, for example. And earmark those revenues to support journalism — nonprofit public media.' https://www.platformer.n…

• @rasmus_kleis Rasmus Kleis Nielsen on x

  Irrespective of Facebook's decision, “Google's capitulation means that Australian crony capitalism is now likely to be exported worldwide. Legacy media outlets will become richer — and also more dependent on the tech giants” @CaseyNewton writes https://www.platformer.news/ ...

• @nessyhill Vanessa Hill on x

  For all the commentary around Australia's media bargaining code, this write up by @CaseyNewton is a must-read. It's tempting - and too easy - to criticise Facebook's actions when the proposed law threatens the principles of the open web. https://twitter.com/...

• @jeffjarvis Jeff Jarvis on x

  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.

• @jeffjarvis Jeff Jarvis on x

  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.

• @b_fung Brian Fung on x

  Bet Google will hold this up as evidence Australia doesn't need a new law forcing it to share revenues with publishers. https://newscorp.com/...

• @nycsouthpaw Southpaw on x

  Let's unionize and try this with @jack https://twitter.com/...

• @defspaladin Paladaddy on x

  This is so dangerous, not only does this incite retaliation but it also invites other big behemoth companies to do the same leaving Australia in a dark spot for news, international and national. https://twitter.com/...

• @rasmus_kleis Rasmus Kleis Nielsen on x

  That shuffling sound you hear? Maybe it is publishers around 🌍 hiring lobbyists:"Google's rush to pay up in Australia shows how regulation in a relatively small country — or just the threat of it — can sharply alter the behavior of a global tech behemoth" https://www.nytimes.com/…

• @senficon Julia Reda on x

  Australia (competition approach, not #copyright), France (competition & copyright) & Germany (neither copyright nor competition) all had the same outcome for Google & big publishers. Great, can we stop wrecking the Internet for everyone else, now? https://newscorp.com/... #linkta…

• @conlon_chris Chris Conlon on x

  No doubt Rupert Murdoch can thank his friends in the Australian government for all of their help on this one. https://twitter.com/...

• @pashulman Peter A. Shulman on x

  Imagine if Google would shared ad revenue and infrastructure with local, public interest non-profit news instead of a corrosive right wing global behemoth. https://twitter.com/...