Posted on 02/22/2021 9:39:28 PM PST by naturalman1975
Facebook will restore Australian news pages this week after reaching a deal with the government over its world-first law regulating big tech.
The social media platform was condemned by politicians around the world after it blocked 25 million Australians from viewing and sharing news articles on Thursday.
The 'arrogant and disgraceful' move - which also banned charity, health authority and emergency service pages - came after Australia's ground-breaking news media bargaining code passed the lower house of Parliament on Wednesday night.
But following talks with Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg, the government has made some last-minute changes to the law which have appeased the tech giant and convinced it to undo the ban.
'Facebook has re-friended Australia,' Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told reporters in Canberra.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Personally I don't particularly agree with the laws but I do think it's important that Facebook understands it is not above the law and cannot just do what it likes - so once this happened I'm glad that it does appear the Australian government has managed to come out on top.
What did they win? No longer going to spy on them? No longer going to censure them or ban them? Austriala should have jus seized their facebook AU domain and black listed it IP . Shut them the hell down. Let see how long people can live without social media crap!
If you don’t know the background - last week Facebook blocked all news access to Australians on Facebook - any site that Facebook decided was a news site was no longer visible (or at least any news stories were no longer visible) in Australia. If Australians tried to post news the posts were blocked. If anybody anywhere in the world tried to post a story from an Australian news source the posts were blocked.
This happened because Facebook objected to a new Australian law that would have required them to pay Australian news sources for material rather than use it for free.
As I say - I don’t agree with the law, because it’s just designed to protect old media from competition - but once Facebook decided to flex its muscle against an entire sovereign nation, it needed to lose that battle. It has.
If the Australian government had caved, it would have set a terrible precedent. Because Facebook wouldn’t have stopped with Australia.
I’d rather see the BODs and executives prosecuted than have the machinery dismantled.
I’m with you. It is not a big victory and not a particularly important issue to pick a fight over but I hope it is just a beginning n regards to taking on big tech over their limiting of free speech on points they do not agree with. I think this was something that Labor and The Greens had no problem with fighting and now they might realise that there is an appetite and votes to be won in fighting the big tech firms
I’m with you. It is not a big victory and not a particularly important issue to pick a fight over but I hope it is just a beginning n regards to taking on big tech over their limiting of free speech on points they do not agree with. I think this was something that Labor and The Greens had no problem with fighting and now they might realise that there is an appetite and votes to be won in fighting the big tech firms
the Coalition Govt in power is mainly the Liberals (so-called conservatives) plus the National Party (considered more of a regional party).
the Liberals have been a huge disappointment, since they were elected with the help of coal miners in Queensland.
today, the only worthwhile politician in the country, quit the Liberals:
23 Feb: Catallaxy Files: Craig Kelly leaves the Liberal Party
Via Andrew Bolt:Craig Kelly has quit the Liberal party and will sit out the rest of the term as an independent.
Kelly has jumped before he was pushed – his preselection looked threatened – but now represents a danger to the Morrison Government, which now holds just 76 seats out of 151.
The Liberals threw Kelly to the wolves, not having the courage to defend him from the media pack, which first savaged him ***for (correctly) questioning global warming alarmism, and then destroyed him for (correctly) saying studies suggested that ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, when taken early and with zinc, both cut deaths from the coronavirus...
It really is a disgrace. Kelly’s views represent a good deal more of the views of the population than his sole voice in the wilderness on so many issues would have you believe.
NOW THE STORY IS IN THE AUSTRALIAN: Craig Kelly to quit Liberal Party, move to crossbench. Here are all of the first dozen of the comments under the classification as “Most Liked”.
“Good luck for the future Craig, keep on fighting for what is right”
“Why would Morrison be surprised….He publicly attacked Mr Kelly and drove him from the party…..Good on you Craig Kelly, there are many of us great unwashed deplorables who fully back you.”...
“There are now a number of medical papers that support Craig’s views on COVID. Makes one wonder why these solutions have been suppressed.”...
https://catallaxyfiles.com/2021/02/23/craig-kelly-quits-the-libs/
I was hoping for that as well.
Just close the door on Facebook down there.
Getting FB back, is Australia’s loss.
Sorry, but that’s how I see it.
this was also considered a win for Murdoch/News Corp, but given the globalist agenda of Murdoch Media, it just looks like more FakeNews consolidation to me:
18 Feb: BBC: Google to pay Murdoch’s News Corporation for stories
The company owns The Sun, The Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Australian, among other publications...
Google last year said it would start licensing “high-quality content” from publishers around the world as part of a $1bn initiative. It has signed up hundreds of media outlets in Germany, Brazil and the UK, among others, to participate in its Google News Showcase programme...
As part of its three-year-agreement, News Corp said the two firms would also collaborate on a subscription platform, share advertising revenue and invest in video journalism on YouTube, which shares a parent company with Google...
Reuters has reported Google agreed to pay $76m over three years to a group of 121 French news publishers to end a dispute over copyright laws in Europe.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56101859
more consolidation, which includes Nine’s radio station 2GB, which has lost most of its conservative voices since Nine bought out the station:
17 Feb: Sydney Morning Herald: Google, Nine agree commercial terms for news content
By Zoe Samios
Google has agreed to pay Nine Entertainment Co more than $30 million in cash annually for the use of its news content, in a major breakthrough for the search giant and media company ahead of the introduction of new bargaining laws.
Industry sources familiar with the talks, who spoke anonymously because of non-disclosure agreements, said Nine had signed a letter of intent with Google overnight for a deal worth more than $30 million in cash annually for five years...
Nine is the owner of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age...
The agreement is significant because it covers content from Nine’s major newspapers, television, radio and digital assets, and will provide enough funding to support the newsrooms for the company...
Kerry Stokes’ Seven West Media announced at its financial results it has signed a letter of understanding with the tech giant for use of its content, a deal which Seven sources say is valued at more than $30 million...
Industry sources said on Monday that letters of intent between Guardian Australia, Nine and the ABC were imminent. Guardian Australia and the ABC could both sign deals for their content as early as today. Talks with other outlets such as Daily Mail Australia and News Corp Australia are ongoing. News Corp, which owns a string of papers in Australia as well as The Wall Street Journal and The Times of London, is expected to sign a global deal for its content...
News Showcase is a newly launched product available through Google’s news app. Google pays publishers for certain behind-the-paywall articles that then appear on the platform. The deals with Nine and Seven are in addition to already struck commercial deals with local publishers for its Showcase product, including Crikey, The Saturday Paper and Australian Community Media, publisher of The Canberra Times...
https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/google-nine-agree-commercial-terms-for-news-content-20210217-p5736c.html
Rd later.
At this point, anyone who uses FB or Twitter is an idiot.
Why do governors permit the state agencies to use them? They can’t be trusted to disseminate information fairly.
Is Facebook going to pay news sources?
bookmark
Yes.
BINGO!
LOL. “He just can’t.” - Yet
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