Unbelievable!
After taking on Google and Facebook to demand ring fenced revenue to pay for the Journalism both are destroying, Australia has won!
Facebook backs down on Australia news ban after ‘constructive discussions’ with government
Facebook is backing down on its ban on Australian news on the platform, after it says it held “constructive discussions” with members of the government.
Google backed down and today it’s been announced Facebook backed down after blocking Australian news!
Australia has had the courage and the smarts to change the flawed free market so that trans national conglomerates who are monopolistically destroying the foundations of reason with disinformation clack bait have to bloody pay for the Journalism that is an antidote to conspiracy theories.
Well done Australia for their courage.
So.
Now.
Where the hell is our bumbling cowardly lion Broadcasting Minister, the ever disappointing Kris Faafoi?
Why he’s throwing $50million to the woke Spinoff and elite opinion circle jerks.
Hardly transformative.
Handing out millions to the luvvies at RNZ and Spinoff and the Stuff Sisterhood of the travelling pants is easy, but actually challenging the broken market and making Google AND Facebook pay money for real journalism is far harder.
Try harder Kris!
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Not so fast, Martyn.
As I said yesterday, corporations sit above governments in the modern hierarchy. And here is the proof. The Aussie government has apparently backed down after being fed some crumbs.
‘In an epic battle of wills between American Big Tech firms (Facebook and Google) and the Australian government, it looks like the Australian government is coming out on top. After Facebook blocked sharing of Australian media content last week in response to a bill that would have made Big Tech liable for paying producers – aka media companies – for content they produced, it looks like lawmakers have caved, and made several amendments to strip out the offending bits. And now, Facebook is planning to lift the block “in the coming days.”
Facebook and Aussie lawmakers have struck a deal to add several amendments that would nullify bits of the proposed Australian law that would have made Big Tech firms – specifically Google and Facebook – responsible for payouts to local media companies, as the FT reports.’
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/facebook-restores-news-sharing-australia-caves-big-tech
I totally agree that our so-called minister of broadcasting is worse-than-useless.
‘Where the hell is our bumbling cowardly lion Broadcasting Minister, the ever disappointing Kris Faafoi’
I don’t know that he is high enough up the ladder to spend most of his time playing golf, so you are probably wasting your time looking for him on golf courses. Maybe try some cubby hole in the parliament building where people go to sleep after an exhausting day of doing nothing.
Independent New Zealand journalist Gordon Campbell takes a different point of view:
“If news outlets really wanted to stop Facebook, Google etc from allegedly “ripping them off” by using their news stories, they could easily attach a simple bit of code to stop the content from being linkable, or searchable. But that would be to cut off their nose to spite their face. In reality, they want to continue to be amplified by Facebook, and to gain the marketable audience driven their way by the Facebook links, – plus extra money on top to replenish the money they’ve lost in advertising revenue to Facebook, Google, Youtube etc. Basically, it’s a scam : a government devised funnel and wealth transfer from online companies to traditional media that will serve only to bolster their dying business models. There is little likelihood that any of this revenue would be ploughed back into journalism, and into jobs for journalists.
Why would it be likely to do so, when the same Big Media companies that stand to benefit most from the Australian legislation have been busily shutting down regional newspapers across Australia?
A study of local news consumption by the News and Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra shows 32% of people in small local government areas with populations under 30,000 have been turning to social media to fill the news gap. Newspaper closures and job losses have hit regional Australia hard. More than 100 local news outlets have closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Removing news from Facebook will further restrict the choices of people with already limited access to news.
That last line is significant. Small businesses and news consumers in rural Australia who have become reliant on Facebook – partly because Big Media has closed their former news sources and advertising options – look like being the real victims of this conflict.”
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL2102/S00089/on-australias-attempt-to-demonise-facebook.htm
https://twitter.com/thejuicemedia/status/1365076419760414720?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
This is worth a look. Juice Media take the view that its a stitch up to squeeze independent voices.
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