Facebook shuts down SA news outlets, government pages

The Treasurer has slammed Facebook after it took down all Australian news content – along with crucial public pages for the weather bureau and SA’s health, water, and power agencies. LIST OF SA PAGES AFFECTED

Facebook’s shock removal of all news content from its platform in Australia was “wrong” and “heavy-handed” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says – as dozens of important public pages remain without content.

Mr Frydenberg said the federal government had no warning from Facebook before it barred news organisations and some government pages, including health departments.

SA Health, SA Water, SA Power Networks, the Bureau of Meteorology, the Sturt Football Club, Deaf Can:Do, SA Council of Social Services, Small Business Commission SA, the AFLW were among those affected.

“What today’s events do confirm for all Australians is the immense market power of these media digital giants,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“These digital giants loom very, very large in our economy and on the digital landscape.”

Mr Frydenberg said the government remained committed to passing its media bargaining code and would not be “intimidated” by Facebook.

“Facebook’s actions … will damage its reputation here in Australia,” he said.

“Their decision to block Australians’ access to government sites – be they about support through the pandemic, mental health, emergency services, the Bureau of Meteorology – were completely unrelated to the media code which is yet to pass through the Senate.”

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Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the move was an “outrageous” abuse of power.

“We expect that Facebook will fix these actions immediately and never repeat them again,” he said.

“This is an assault on a sovereign nation.

“It is an assault on people’s freedom and, in particular, it is an utter abuse of big technologies’ market power and control over technology.”

He accused Facebook of putting “profit over people”

SA Health has lost all the content on its Facebook page – in the middle of a global pandemic.

SA Health and the Bureau of Meteorology’s Facebook pages have now been restored – but dozens of other important pages remain without content.

Womadelaide’s page has been taken down just weeks before the live music event is set to start in the Parklands.

Major news sites including News Corp’s stable of mastheads – including The Advertiser – along with Facebook’s own page, and even satirical sites Betoota Advocate and The Onion have all been wiped.

Multiple pages that seem to have no connection with the media industry – such as major international bands including Metallica – have also been blocked for Australian users.

Health Minister Stephen Wade this morning blasted Facebook for its decision to censor the SA Health page in the middle of a global pandemic and in the crucial lead-up to vaccine rollouts.

“To restrict the dissemination of important public health information during a global pandemic is absolutely unacceptable,” Mr Wade said.

“I urge Facebook to immediately reverse this decision.”

He later said he was “relieved common sense has prevailed” following Facebook’s “reckless censorship this morning”.

SA CFS Promotions Unit Facebook page has also lost its content.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas agreed: “The timing couldn’t be worse in the midst of a worldwide pandemic and on a high fire danger day to shut down both SA Health and the Bureau of Meteorology’s pages”

Premier Steven Marshall said he was disappointed that the ban extended to the public information sector.

“We are very disappointed with the action taken by Facebook, particularly that the SA Health site was not fully operational,” Mr Marshall said.

He said Facebook has not contacted the state government.

“There will be continued discussions with the federal government and Facebook.”

Auslan Instructor Kate Frost in the Deaf Can:Do office at Welland, is frustrated that her organisation’s Facebook page has been wiped out. Picture: Keryn Stevens

General Manager of Deaf Can:Do Auslan instructor Kate Frost said being caught up in the banning had caused significant impacts for the state’s deaf community.

“The deaf community rely on Facebook because it’s where they get access to the information in their first language, Auslan.

“On Facebook pages like Deaf Can:Do there is a lot of incidental information available – not just news, but COVID updates and deaf community updates, information that cannot be accessed centrally anywhere else.”

Small Business Commissioner of SA, John Chapman, said Facebook’s decision to extend the ban past media outlets and towards businesses and public information services was “confusing.”

“If Facebook’s algorithm starts to exclude a whole range of people, then Facebook may be irrelevant,” Mr Chapman said.

“Businesses use Facebook for promoting various products as part of their marketing and if you suddenly take a business off Facebook, they won’t spend money advertising.”

SA Power Networks spokesman Paul Roberts said the loss of its Facebook content “impacts our ability to provide important information to our community regarding electricity supply and also safety information”.

“Facebook is one of the channels we use actively to keep in touch with our customers and community and we are surprised our pages have been wiped by Facebook,” he said.

“We did not receive any notification from Facebook for this unilateral action and are disappointed that, as an essential service provider, we have been caught up in a dispute over media rights.”

He said information would still be available on the organisation’s other social media pages, website and SMS system.

SACOSS CEO Ross Womersley said Facebook’s actions had been “both shortsighted and damaging”.

“We call for all of those services to be immediately reinstated and for Facebook to apologise for behaving in such an anti-community way,” he said.

For organisations in the sector, it’s probably worth thinking about what other options they have for communicating information and sharing resources, if this is going to be a risk.”

The Bureau of Meteorology Facebook page has lost all posts and information.

A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman asked the public to access information from its website and Twitter pages.

“The Bureau of Meteorology’s Facebook page has been impacted by the broader Facebook changes,” the spokesman said.

“The latest forecast and warning information is always available at www.bom.gov.au and on the BOM Weather app.”

The CFS released a statement offering alternate ways information can be found, should it become victim to the changes.

“The SA CFS is yet to fully understand whether there’ll be any implications on our ability to share information, in light of Facebook’s block on news sites,” the statement said.

“As always, we encourage the community to ensure they are accessing multiple sources for information in the event of a fire and on days of dangerous fire weather.”

Earlier on Thursday morning, Mr Frydenberg took to Twitter to reveal he had a “constructive discussion” with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, after the social network announced it would block Australian news content.

“This morning, I had a constructive discussion with Mark Zuckerberg from #Facebook,” Mr Frydenberg tweeted.

“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.”

Australia is poised to adopt legislation that would force digital companies to pay for news content, something that would create a global precedent and, according to Facebook and Google, impact the way the internet works.

“The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content,” said Facebook’s manager for Australia and New Zealand, William Easton.