Posted on 02/19/2021 7:26:53 AM PST by Patriot777
Sorry, I can’t agree with your support for a one world dictatorship.
And most of the media too.
Australia doesn’t want to shut down Facebook, they want to nationalize it. If they just wanted to shut it down there I couldn’t care less.
“Sorry, I can’t agree with your support for a one world dictatorship.”
We’re about to get that now due to us sticking to our ‘ideals’ and ‘principles’, which is why I’m leaving this country for good. If I have to live in a Socialist dictatorship, I’d rather be ruled by people who do not HATE half of their populace, particularly when I’m in that half (because it often doesn’t end well for those people).
“Australia doesn’t want to shut down Facebook, they want to nationalize it. If they just wanted to shut it down there I couldn’t care less.”
If they make Facebook angry, I’m very happy. I really don’t care about the details. I will NEVER defend them or similar companies after the 2020 election, no matter what.
Winning is everything, and Winners write history. Facebook being on the loosing end is a BIG plus for many who see that Propaganda does work and needs to be curtailed
Yeah, that’s how we got the Patriot act, secret FISA courts and global spying on citizens.
Imagine the horror should the Aussie Govt. boot facebook completely and business’s having to pony up the dough for their own website.
Google has complained that Australia’s rules go further than Europe’s, because they would apply even to links and snippets of articles, which it says limits internet users’ free speech.
I consider myself strongly libertarian but the hypocrisy of the tech oligarchs is stunning. They claim they are protecting “free speech” but in fact are highly abusive of their near monopolistic power over social media, to hinder free speech of those they don’t like. If Nov. 2020 didn’t prove that, nothing will.
Libertarians are against monopolistic concentrations of power, particularly economic power, especially that which is protected by political power(ie. fascism) - which is clearly the case with Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc…. A libertarian should advocate breaking-up their monopoly and stranglehold over internet speech.
I don’t quite understand why they’re doing this. FB makes plenty of money with its current business model. So why PO users like this? FB may think it’s the only show in town, but make people mad enough and reduce its usefulness, and people will find a replacement.
I’m all for that. But I don’t agree with accomplishing it by allowing foreign countries to force American companies to do business there at a loss. This cure is worse than the disease. Use anti-trust laws to go after big tech.
Some folks suggest that Instagram is more popular (daily use) than FB. The thing that sells Instagram (around 55-percent of users in Australia are women) is influencers. You can’t say that with FB...it’s not used in that way.
I would suggest that FB is reaching some maximum potential on profits (at least there). Same issue in Germany...Instagram has the trend-setters. If you delete news content...what’s left? Stupid cat videos, party clips?
“A libertarian should advocate breaking-up their monopoly and stranglehold over internet speech.”
The way I was taught by a Libertarian, decades ago, but his head still looks pointy today, was that the FREE MARKET will solve all problems...so if there is no power here in Texas with people freezing, or airplanes falling out of the sky because pilots weren’t told about a new system, or Pintos exploding from small, rear-end collisions - same answer:
If enough people die, industry will ‘fix’ the problem.
Unfortunately PEOPLE VOTE, and if they don’t like airplanes falling out of the sky, for example, and if a certain political party is going to allow this type of ‘natural selection’, based on death-count, they’ll be voted out.
Same here...our pointy heads in the Senate basically said “If you don’t like Facebook, Twitter, and Google, then start your own company”.
Well, we have Biden/Harris now, due to that ‘idealism’. And as I always say, we have to fight by THEIR RULES, and if it means compromising our ideals, so be it.
“I’m not a Facebook fan but I’m with them on this one. Australia passed a law that would tax Facebook every time someone posts a link to an Australian media site - even if it was the publisher themselves that posted the link. It would have cost Facebook billions. Facebook decided that it was better business to just eliminate links to Australian publishers. Australia has no basis to act all outraged. It’s like imposing a massive sales tax on potatoes and then acting all shocked when people quit buying potatoes.”
I’m with you on this one. Links are PUBLIC DOMAIN. EVERYONE CAN USE A LINK. Now, the news site can control how much they share through the link and whether they require someone to follow it to read the whole article. See Free Republic’s excerpt and posting rules.
As a business, Facebook is free to prevent all postings from Australia to its site. That said, I understand they’ve banned many good, non-profit pages from Australia too. Heavy-handed, blind following of its rules. Typical bureaucracy.
Continuing the attack, Facebook’s censoring policy on its site is inconsistent and pro-Democrat, pro-socialism, and politically biased. Therefore, they are a publisher and not a platform and Section 230 of the FCC DOES NOT APPLY TO THEM. Sue them to your heart’s content for their discrimination and bias.
The Australian government, as others have said, is trying to get money out of Facebook to fund its programs, like a good socialist government. I’m glad to see them slapped down. They’re trying to tax public goods, internet addresses. This is much like the EU which tries to hold Google responsible for what its search engine finds. They want to blackout certain sites, censor them, as well as hide private information.
I support personal privacy, but persons are responsible for what they post on the internet. If you post personal information, realize the whole world can see it. If someone else does this, sue them and the IP site the permitted it. After enough lawsuits, IP providers will become quite leery.
As others have said, they’re all villains here: Facebook, Google, the Australian government, and the EU. Eat some popcorn.
There is a reason why we have had anti-trust laws for over a century. Allowing a business to operate purely on mercantile principles is not possible when it grows so large that it controls an essential market. It’s even less tolerable when that business can exist only by virtue of a public policy exception like Section 230. Facebook and Google have long since passed that point.
Reading that one wrong ?
We should be thanking Australia, first, for demonstrating how to most efficiently convert hard core leftists into a rabble of angry Republicans fomenting a tax revolt.
Exposing the entitlement of lefties who demand more government control... but then not only refuse to comply with government rules... but refuse to pay for it ? Seems a win-win, to me.
I’m with Australia... out ahead of the curve in figuring out how to sustain the tax base at the tech oligarchs expense, when the only thing left of the economy is in the value of a click...
Otherwise, the choice you are presented with is one between who you will be governed by... the government you elected, or the un-elected oligarchs assuming they can dictate terms to you, while refusing to pay the taxes needed to support those same policies they want to force you to adopt.
If nothing else... Facebook’s tantrum... declaring lefty tech oligarchs as not only above the law, but above being taxed... defines a crack in the armor of tech monopolies... grown fat on state subsidies and exemptions from laws that apply to everyone else. Australia should double down... making it impossible for Facebook to survive in Australia... thus fostering an new ability to develop market competition in the space... by obviating the advantages of the monopoly.
A perfect response... would be to apply an equal or greater tax on them every time they remove or deny access to a posted link...
Australia is far better off. Facebook needs Australia but Australia does not need a website called Facebook.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.