If you’re not paying attention to this Facebook vs Australia News Corp scrap, you should be.

Nine News: The social media giant Facebook will prohibit publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content in response to Australia’s proposed media bargaining laws — a move Nine says will inhibit news creators from sharing quality news and information.

Facebook this morning said it was left with a “stark choice” after being unable to find a “solution” in discussions with the Australian government.“The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content,” William Easton, Facebook’s Australia and New Zealand managing director, said in a blog post.
“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.”
“It is unfortunate Facebook have taken this position and it will indeed inhibit us from sharing our quality news and information with Australians. Nobody benefits from this decision as Facebook will now be a platform for misinformation to rapidly spread without balance. This action proves again their monopoly position and unreasonable behaviour,” a spokesperson said.
“But today’s statement does not mean Facebook will not have to abide by the Federal Governments’ proposed code. Value has already been transferred and Facebook has benefited from our content for many years. We should be able to access their monopoly platform and have the right to monetise our content as a result.

At the heart of the issue?
Facebook and Google have been bogeying content from legitimate news sources forever. Facebook has the practice of providing news for free by claiming Facebook is nothing more than a sharing platform which we all know is BS.

The Australian Government has been campaigning against Big Tech’s legal theft of legitimate content from legitimate Aussie news sources since 2019. While Google signed a $30 million/year deal with Nine News in Australia to use their news content last week, Facebook pitched a fit by turning off functionality to share ANY news on their platform for all Aussie FB users.

THAT’S how powerful Facebook is.
Instead of paying for content, Facebook crippled the accounts of MILLIONS of Australians because Mark Zuckerberg is a cheap prick.

Facebook said the Federal Government, and the proposed law, “seeks to penalise Facebook for content it didn’t take or ask for”.
“Unfortunately, this means people and news organisations in Australia are now restricted from posting news links and sharing or viewing Australian and international news content on Facebook.
“Globally, posting and sharing news links from Australian publishers is also restricted.”

Facebook’s use of the ‘Don’t Kill the Middle Man’ defense is complete garbage.  If it wasn’t for ‘content it didn’t take or ask for’ Facebook would still be a creepy way for perverts to check out all the freshmen chicks at your local university.  The entire PURPOSE of Facebook is to help people share the fucking news they find online.  They use news sharing as a hook to gather users’ personal information to send that user more news stories Facebook ‘didn’t take or ask for’.  They then sell that user’s information to other news outlets and advertisers to help them target users with other user-generated content they don’t ask for which helps Zuckerberg generate BILLIONS in revenue each year.

So not only are they refusing to pay PEANUTS for the content they use to help them steal and sell your personal information, they are saying if they are forced to pay for it, they’ll just turn off the news ALTOGETHER for Australians.

Facebook has announced that people and publishers in Australia cannot share and view news from local and international outlets. It is a response to proposed legislation in Australia that would force tech platforms to pay news publishers for content. https://t.co/mwpt5LsCcL

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) February 17, 2021

If Facebook were a country, Mark Zuckerberg would be labeled as a dictator this morning.  If he can turn off content sharing for 13 million Australians, he can do the same thing for Canadians or any other country for that matter.   Instead of being reasonable with his billions and insane influence, Zuckerberg is telling 5 billion Facebook users to suck on his ginger nutsack.  You want Zuck to pay for the news he’s built his empire with?  Fuck you.  He’s turning off the news if he has to pay for it.

As someone who has never used FB or had a legitimate FB account, I feel like I dodged a bullet.  I get my news from news sources and still shine FB because I don’t trust him.  Facebook’s only concern is to maintain influence and keep those regulatory parameters as far away from their bottom line as possible.

Mark Zuckerberg never gave a shit about you or your ‘User Experience’.  He turned off the news to an entire fucking country, penalizing 13 million users in the process, to avoid regulatory change and revenue sharing.  Mark Zuckerberg cares about being allowed to do whatever he wants and if he doesn’t get it, he punishes people because he’s a billionaire baby who’s never been punched in the face.

I hope Australia starts a movement and we end up relegating Facebook to MySpace’s status as a punchline.

Canada should follow suit.  Facebook is nothing more than a black hole for Mark Zuckerberg’s tiny penis and I look forward to the day we can start making fun of people who live for it.

DB