Swim Bike Run
Slowtwitch.com
  • Login >
Slowtwitch.com
Search menu
Hot Forum Topics

Poll

Best Recent Tech for Tri
What is the most beneficial recent bike tech used in tri bikes
View Results


Home > Forum > Lavender Room > Facebook dummy spit in Australia

Lavender Room

Back To ForumPrint Thread

Login required to started new threads

Login required to post replies

Tri
Classifieds
Lavender
Jobs
Notices
Facebook dummy spit in Australia
Quote | Reply
Ironnerd
Feb 17, 21 22:50
Post #1 of 13 (1178 views)
The Australian government has passed laws requiring tech giants like Google and Facebook to pay for the news that they display from other websites.

Google after initially resisting has come to a financial agreement with the large media companies.

Overnight Facebook did a dummy spit. They blocked Australian and international news content. Many media company Facebook pages now appear blank.

They also inadvertently blocked many government departments such as Bureau of Meteorology and some health departments. Some commercial companies were also blocked. Facebook pages for many Politian's were blocked.

Funnily enough they even blocked Facebooks Facebook page.
https://www.abc.net.au/...-zuckerberg/13166710

They are a private company and can do what they like. As a global company they have a lot of influence over the way that people think. Governments do not seem to have the power to control them. As consumers we can vote with our feet. I will not be using Facebook until this issue is resolved.

I recommend to everyone the docudrama The Social Dilemma. Also review your privacy settings in apps such as Facebook, Google, Insta, etc to minimise the amount of personal data you are sharing with the tech giants.
Quote Reply
Re: Facebook dummy spit in Australia [Ironnerd] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
burnthesheep
Feb 18, 21 4:47
Post #2 of 13 (1102 views)
Yeah, it's a "participate at will" thing.

Facebook isn't necessary to conduct life. We didn't have it to disseminate news when I was as old as in college (myspace had just come out middle of college).

At the same time it's hillarious that places like Facebook and tech bitch about people expecting a bunch of stuff for free without the info mining, then turn around and balk at paying for..........wait for it.........content. Play my smallest violin.

Just logoff if you don't like it.
Quote Reply
Re: Facebook dummy spit in Australia [Ironnerd] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
DarkSpeedWorks
Feb 18, 21 5:28
Post #3 of 13 (1064 views)
Yup, the social dilemma is a must watch flick.

The aussies have balls. The US should grow a pair and do the same thing. If you want news, you should have to go the source. Facebook "news" is complete crap anyway.

And this move by FB just shows that they are nothing but a bully. This will not go well for them ...
Advanced Aero TopTube Storage for Road, Gravel, & Tri...ZeroSlip & Direct-mount, made in the USA.
DarkSpeedWorks.com.....Reviews.....Insta.....Facebook
--
Last edited by: DarkSpeedWorks: Feb 18, 21 7:12
Quote Reply
Re: Facebook dummy spit in Australia [DarkSpeedWorks] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Bone Idol
Feb 18, 21 16:32
Post #4 of 13 (957 views)
I don't think it is a good move by FB. I took it as them muscle flexing and calling the govt's bluff, but the govt isn't bluffing. They have flagged this years ahead and it was clear they were committed to proceeding. I think FB will back down, but we'll see. Google adjusted and moved ahead without too much angst. There was a bit of whinging about how they had to enter "thousands" of new contracts (but no serious complaint about cost, which is actually pretty trivial).

It is pretty remarkable/frightening how many people do use FB as their main news source. It is pretty simple to just go to the news outlets' own websites direct for news, and keep FB for dog videos and updates from foreign friends. I can't explain the reluctance to do just that. If people are going to continue to use FB for news, absent any actual credible news sources, I guess it will contribute to the further dumbing down of our populace.
Quote Reply
Re: Facebook dummy spit in Australia [Ironnerd] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Ironnerd
Feb 21, 21 22:37
Post #5 of 13 (858 views)
Facebook has re-enabled most of the pages that were shut down by mistake. It does make you wonder how good their AI moderation bots are, when they shut down so many pages that were clearly not media. Media pages are still blank and you can not share media links.

Canada is drafting similar laws to protect media in Canada.

https://www.newzpick.com/...an-canada-to-follow/

Today the Australian government has announced that it will cancel all of its advertising on Facebook, worth about A$10 million. (why a government needs to spend so much on advertising is a separate issue)

Who will blink first?
Quote Reply
Re: Facebook dummy spit in Australia [Ironnerd] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Bone Idol
Feb 21, 21 23:31
Post #6 of 13 (842 views)
Ironnerd wrote:
Facebook has re-enabled most of the pages that were shut down by mistake.

Occam's razor suggests that you should never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence.

However, shutting down a multitude of government and quasi-government websites looked for all the world like a massive deliberate FU from FB, albeit one that seems to have backfired rather badly.

FB will blink first. Canada is following Oz and I think Britain might be next. Then the floodgates open.
Quote Reply
Re: Facebook dummy spit in Australia [Ironnerd] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
alex_korr
Feb 22, 21 10:07
Post #7 of 13 (762 views)
Ironnerd wrote:
Facebook has re-enabled most of the pages that were shut down by mistake. It does make you wonder how good their AI moderation bots are, when they shut down so many pages that were clearly not media. Media pages are still blank and you can not share media links.

Canada is drafting similar laws to protect media in Canada.

https://www.newzpick.com/...an-canada-to-follow/

Today the Australian government has announced that it will cancel all of its advertising on Facebook, worth about A$10 million. (why a government needs to spend so much on advertising is a separate issue)

Who will blink first?

Facebook is unlikely to blink. News are like 4% of their content. They can afford to starve Australia publishers out - I think that their traffic dropped 20% after Facebook booted their news links from their feeds.
They are a smart company that has balls to go through some pain for 2-3 years to win out in a long run.
Next races on the schedule: none at the moment
Quote Reply
Re: Facebook dummy spit in Australia [Bone Idol] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
g_lev
Feb 22, 21 10:12
Post #8 of 13 (754 views)
Bone Idol wrote:
Ironnerd wrote:
Facebook has re-enabled most of the pages that were shut down by mistake.


Occam's razor suggests that you should never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence.

That would be Hanlon's Razor
Quote Reply
Re: Facebook dummy spit in Australia [Ironnerd] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Ironnerd
Feb 23, 21 14:46
Post #9 of 13 (703 views)
Facebook and the Australian government came to a compromise. The government will make some small changes to the legislation and Facebook will negotiate with media companies on payments.

I read an article that suggested that Google agreed to the media payments "quickly" as it is easy for users to switch to another search provider. Where as Facebook has no real competitor and could afford to take actions which adversely affected users with little or no consequences.
Quote Reply
Re: Facebook dummy spit in Australia [alex_korr] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Andrew69
Feb 23, 21 14:57
Post #10 of 13 (697 views)
So Facebook blinked first after all.
TBH, its of no consequence to me as I dont use facebook at all.
I get all my info from the LR!
Quote Reply
Re: Facebook dummy spit in Australia [g_lev] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Bone Idol
Feb 23, 21 16:43
Post #11 of 13 (670 views)
g_lev wrote:
Bone Idol wrote:
Ironnerd wrote:
Facebook has re-enabled most of the pages that were shut down by mistake.


Occam's razor suggests that you should never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence.


That would be Hanlon's Razor

Yes good point. A particular application of Occam.
Quote Reply
Re: Facebook dummy spit in Australia [Ironnerd] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Bone Idol
Feb 23, 21 16:53
Post #12 of 13 (661 views)
Ironnerd wrote:
Facebook and the Australian government came to a compromise. The government will make some small changes to the legislation and Facebook will negotiate with media companies on payments.

I read an article that suggested that Google agreed to the media payments "quickly" as it is easy for users to switch to another search provider. Where as Facebook has no real competitor and could afford to take actions which adversely affected users with little or no consequences.

I picked it. The "compromise" changes are just face(book) saving for FB. The government has always acknowledged there would need to be tweaking for a practical implementation. FB have been invited provide input to the legislation for the past couple of years while they claimed it was impossible... then within a few days it became possible after all.

Speaking of Hanlon's Razor & such, FB's advantage, that they seem to think is unassailable at this point, is an example of Metcalfe's Law, which explains the value of network assets. Essentially, the value of a network increases quadratically—proportionately to the square of the number of its participants—while costs tend to grow only linearly.
Quote Reply
Re: Facebook dummy spit in Australia [g_lev] [ In reply to ]
Quote | Reply
Ironnerd
Feb 23, 21 18:37
Post #13 of 13 (635 views)
g_lev wrote:
Bone Idol wrote:
Ironnerd wrote:
Facebook has re-enabled most of the pages that were shut down by mistake.


Occam's razor suggests that you should never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence.


That would be Hanlon's Razor

I follow a few true crime subs on Reddit. You will often read people linking together a number of mistakes, often small ones, made by police and turn them into a grand conspiracy. In most, perhaps all cases, they should apply Hanlon's Razor.
Quote Reply
Back To ForumPrint Thread

Our Partners

transition-DOT-area-AT-slowtwitch-DOT-com

Advertise with us

©1999-2024 Slowtwitch, Inc., and Slowtwitch.com
Reproduction of material from any Slowtwitch.com page
without written permission is strictly prohibited.