Facebook loses friends as protest over new media code backfires
Australians who rely on Facebook for information on public health, disability and emergency services were dangerously cut adrift.
Millions of Australians who rely on Facebook for information on public health, disability services and emergency warnings were dangerously cut adrift by the social media giant when it blocked access to a range of its online pages, in a botched protest over the government’s proposed news media laws.
The blackout — intended to erase the presence of legitimate Australian news content on local Facebook feeds, due to the digital platform’s ongoing refusal to pay for it — left the US-owned company with “significant” reputational damage, as the ban engulfed community groups with no links to news organisations.
The main health department sites in NSW, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT, all of which publish critical information about the coronavirus pandemic, were inaccessible via Facebook for several hours on Thursday, as were the nation’s most authoritative online resources on bowel cancer and dementia.
Facebook, which is visited by more than 17 million Australians each month, also blocked MS Australia, the not-for-profit organisation that provides advice and support — including carers — to more than 25,000 Australians living with the neurological disease. MS Australia is a fundraiser for research for a cure.
The Kids Cancer Project, an online charity, was also wiped from the social media platform, as were anti-domestic violence site 1800 Respect, the Bureau of Meteorology, and household goods retailer Harvey Norman.
Hetty Johnston, founder of child protection group Bravehearts, said her organisation’s page was shut down on Thursday.
“There is too much at stake,” Ms Johnston said. “What if a child goes missing today, what then? Facebook is basically refusing to put out amber alerts.
“They’re affecting human lives with their nonsense, it’s just outrageous. They’ve completely abrogated their responsibility to the community.”
Facebook unleashed the extraordinary move days before the federal government’s contentious mandatory news media bargaining code is due to be voted on in the Senate, where it will almost certainly be passed with bipartisan support. The company’s action infuriated the federal government. Scott Morrison issued a sharply worded rebuke of the Mark Zuckerberg-led company.
“Facebook’s actions to unfriend Australia today, cutting off essential information services on health and emergency services, were as arrogant as they were disappointing,” the Prime Minister said.
“These actions will only confirm the concerns that an increasing number of countries are expressing about the behaviour of big tech companies, who think they are bigger than governments and that the rules should not apply to them. They may be changing the world, but that doesn’t mean they should run it.
“We will not be intimidated by this act of bullying by big tech, seeking to pressure parliament as it votes on our important news media bargaining code.”
Mr Morrison said he was in regular contact with the leaders of other nations on such issues. “We simply won’t be intimidated, just as we weren’t when Amazon threatened to leave the country and when Australia drew other nations together to combat the publishing of terrorist content on social media platforms,” he said.
It’s understood Mr Morrison raised Facebook’s actions in a call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday afternoon.
Facebook believes the proposed media bargaining code, which will require it to compensate news publishers for the use of their original content, fails to offer a clear definition of “news content”, and is therefore too broad.
The company’s main sticking point is a fear it will have to renegotiate deals with publishers every time it updates its news feed or releases products or services.
The social media giant also believes that if differs from Google because publishers and users share articles on the Facebook page voluntarily; they are not sharing it in a search engine involuntarily.
Just hours before Facebook announced the ban, Google signed a landmark global deal with News Corp, publisher of The Australian. The tech giant agreed to remunerate the media company for the use of its journalism.
While Facebook claims it has conducted negotiations with the federal government in “good faith”, industry sources accuse the company of having behaved in an “erratic fashion” for months.
After the ban was implemented on Thursday morning, a Facebook spokesman said the company’s position had always been that the legislation was opaque.
“The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content,” the spokesman said “It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship, or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia. With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter.”
A few hours later, when Facebook realised its blunder had inconvenienced millions of Australians and put the health of many at risk, the company reactivated the pages that were not intended to be part of the ban, and went into damage control.
Facebook’s former Australian boss Stephen Scheeler said the ban was “an act of war”, and urged Australians to delete the app to send a message to the company.
“It shouldn’t have happened. But unfortunately it did,” Mr Scheeler said. “But there’s no good answers. If you’re Rio Tinto and you blow up an Aboriginal sacred site, there are consequences, people lose their jobs. But at Facebook nobody ever loses their jobs.
“I‘m a proud ex-Facebooker, but over the years I get more and more exasperated. For Facebook and Mark (Zuckerberg) it’s too much about the money, and the power, and not about the good.”
Health Minister Greg Hunt said Facebook’s blocking of news content in Australia could threaten the government’s vaccine rollout and called on the social media giant to “start growing up” and focus on prioritising community safety.
Josh Frydenberg, who spoke with Mr Zuckerberg on Thursday morning to try to find a “pathway forward”, said Facebook’s actions were “wrong”.
“Facebook’s actions were unnecessary, they were heavy-handed, and they will damage its reputation here in Australia,” the Treasurer said.
He said Facebook’s actions showed “the immense market power” of the tech giants.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan compared Facebook to North Korea and called for the US government to intervene in Australia’s dispute between the social media giant. He said Facebook’s decision amounted to bullying.
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher warned Facebook the social media market was “dynamic” and its page blackout had caused commercial damage.
“It’s a very dynamic environment … And I do make the point that people move and adjust if services are withdrawn or changed in the way they’re delivered,” Mr Fletcher said.
“And I’m sure Facebook would be conscious of that as well. By withdrawing services, they’re doing themselves commercial damage. And I’m sure they’re thinking about that very carefully.”
Additional reporting: Richard Ferguson, Paul Garvey
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