Facebook's wrong move

The act of blocking news content, declaring war on the press and politicians is considered a wrong step in Facebook's PR strategy.

Australia's war with Facebook and Google, involving bills that force the two tech giants to pay for displaying news content, has been tingling throughout the year. However, the sudden decision to block all Australian news content on the Facebook platform pushed the conflict to a whole new level.

One of the media magnate Rupert Murdoch's papers describes it as "an act of war". Meanwhile, the tech world is questioning whether Mark Zuckerberg is " overplaying ", and whether the social network's "show of strength" will cause many other countries to follow Australia.

Steve Evans, a former BBC correspondent, said: "They ruined it, there was absolutely no doubt about it. They not only blocked the media but also blocked the government's medical websites. Access to information that was updated every minute, for example, about Covid-19, was suddenly no longer on Facebook.

If Zuckerberg thought his bold move to impose a ban on displaying news in a country would cause politicians around the world to rethink how they manage Facebook, he might be right. . But the "rethink" here is that they have more determination to "cut the wings" of Facebook.

Facebook's display of power has been found to be counterproductive

The act of the 'bully'

Facebook's decision made them face a wave of outrage, not only from Australian newsrooms and politicians but also around the world.

In the US, Democratic Rep. David Cicilline insists Facebook is incompatible with democracy and the threat of making a nation to its knees is the acknowledgment of monopolistic power.

In the UK, congressman Julian Knight judged that Facebook was behaving like a bully. "This is a confusing move. The 'unplug' decision represents the worst type of corporate culture," he said.

According to Reuters, Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, who is drafting a law requiring online platforms to pay for the use of media content, rated Facebook's move as "irresponsible" and "impossible. prevent us from moving forward. "

Henry Faure Walker, president of the UK News Communications Association, said banning the display of news during the global pandemic was "a classic example of a monopoly force - a bully at the pitch. schools - strive to defend their dominant positions regardless of the citizens and the customers they serve.

"It is time for governments around the world to limit the market power of platforms that act as gatekeepers," said Dietmar Wolff, head of the German news publishers association BDZV.

Lisa Davies, editor of the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper wrote on Twitter that blocking Facebook's mainstream news content "increases the chances of misinformation, dangerous extremism, and rampant conspiracy theories. on his platform exponentially ".

Australian Treasury Secretary Josh Frydenberg affirmed the government of this country will maintain its plan without regard to the "bullying" behavior of the US technology company.

"Facebook made a mistake. Facebook's actions were unnecessary and would damage their own reputation in Australia," said Frydenberg.

Many of the 17 million Facebook users in Australia are also announcing a boycott of the social networking platform, calling for direct access to newspaper websites instead of Facebook.

Meanwhile, a Facebook spokesperson said Mark Zuckerberg had "made a constructive call with Josh Frydenberg and once again expressed his disappointment with the proposed law". She said Facebook will continue to work with governments to amend the law.

Two sides of the problem

However, there are two sides to each issue and even among Facebook critics, not everyone thinks Australia has the right approach.

Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the World Wide Web, expressed concern that if the idea of ​​forcing social networks to pay for link sharing applies around the world, the Internet could no longer function as well. like nowadays.

According to him, the neutral principle on the Internet - that all traffic should be treated equally and free circulating rather than being taxed or slowed down for some reason - should take precedence over all else. other concerns.

Agreeing, it is argued that Australian regulation will only benefit an old media superpower - Rupert Murdoch's press empire - rather than undermining Facebook and Google's dominance in the field. Online Advertising.

Different tactics

Like Facebook, Google has repeatedly complained that Australia's rules go well over the new European revenue-sharing laws, as they require online platforms to pay even for roads. links and excerpts of the article.

The two companies campaigned against the bill and both threatened to block service in Australia. However, Google only stopped at recommending and initially signed a pre-agreement with a number of press news agencies. And Facebook made an unexpected decision, showing a division in tactics compared to Google.

Facebook says news accounts for only 4% of what people see on its platform. But for Australians, Facebook's role in providing news is on the rise. A study by the University of Canberra in 2020 shows that 21% of people in this country use social media as the main source of news and 39% use Facebook to receive news.

Online advertising brings hundreds of billions of dollars in global revenue each year and the two giants Google and Facebook account for more than half of this market. According to the Australian regulatory authority, on average, for every $ 100 spent on online advertising, Google accounts for $ 53, Facebook $ 28, and other participants have to scramble for the remaining $ 19.

From 2019, about 200 newsrooms in Australia have to cut, shut down or close because they cannot compete with social media platforms in the field of advertising.

Google's revenue-sharing agreement with two major Australian media groups and Seven West Media and Nine Entertainment is said to be worth $ 23 million per year, though specific financial terms have not been disclosed.

According to Rob Nicholls, an associate professor at the University of New South Wales, the amount is nowhere compared to Google's $ 180 billion in 2020 revenue but is actually significant for media publishers - those who are struggling with. Financial turmoil over the years because of the rise of social networking platforms.

Experts say on CNN, Google is taking the right step and winning the war. Facebook shares fell 2% on Feb. 18.