Ban proves Facebook is undoubtedly another publisher
In his blunt action to delete news from the Facebook platform, Mark Zuckerberg has demonstrated beyond doubt that Facebook is a publisher.
By choosing the pages it wants to display for the public, Facebook’s behaviour goes to the heart of what is it to be a publisher — curation.
Facebook’s decision to ban individuals as well as news sends a capital letter message about how the company sees its users.
Early on Thursday, West Australian Opposition Leader Zak Kirkup, three weeks out from the state election, found his Facebook page wiped. That is interfering in elections, or at least for a publisher it would be, whether inadvertent or not.
Emergency services in the west, plagued by fires, were blindsided as they too had pages wiped off the platform.
Regardless of how much “news” is returned to the platform, as Facebook refines just who and what news is still good for posting, Facebook is curating.
Facebook is the second US tech giant to threaten the Australian government in less than a month as the media code heads to the Senate for approval.
In January, Google’s ultimatum backfired.
Rival tech giant Microsoft presented as a white knight and Google insiders marvelled at the own goal. The government now has Google at the negotiating tables of traditional media, large and small around the country.
In Australia, Google is now recognising the value of quality local journalism.
Facebook did not threaten, it acted. As the government is poised to launch its vital vaccine rollout, the platform that purports to be responsible is now the home of unchallenged anti-vaxxers and soothsayers.
We do not know whether Facebook’s aggression will pressure the government to tweak the code.
This has been a rollercoaster battle, much of it taking place behind closed doors between the tech giants and traditional media, as the advertising dollar shifted to social media and e-commerce, as fake news and Trump politics reawakened the public to the value of trusted sources in traditional media.
New media expert Kosha Gada said Facebook’s latest move was not unexpected as regulators try to catch up with the huge market power of big tech. “History tells us that when these dynamics are at play, we can expect to see bolder moves and countermoves as the stakes ratchet up,” Gada said.
“Facebook’s Australian revenue makes up 1 to 3 per cent of their global revenue and news aggregation is an increasingly smaller part of their business model.”
On the ground in Australia, the Facebook footprint feels more important. In this latest David and Goliath standoff, David is every Facebook user, just as he was every hairdresser when Google threatened to pull search services from Australia.
“We don’t respond to threats,” was the response of Prime Minister Scott Morrison to the Google ultimatum.
Josh Frydenberg called Facebook’s action wrong, unnecessary and heavy-handed.
As one senior business leader observed, it feels like we are that moment where parties walk away just before they come back and do a deal.
More Coverage
BBC apologises to staff over Russell Brand sex complaints
Some employees had stayed silent about the behaviour of the comedian and actor because they believed he ‘would always get his way’, a BBC director said.
Questions about ABC platforming ‘radical fringe Jewish voice’
Jewish groups have questioned why the national broadcaster has chosen to platform and ‘mainstream’ a Jewish ‘radical fringe voice’, in its coverage of anti-Semitic events in Sydney.