SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Australians woke to empty news feeds on their Facebook Inc pages yesterday after the social media giant blocked all media content in a surprise and dramatic escalation of a dispute with the government over paying for content.
The move was swiftly criticised by news producers, politicians and human rights advocates, particularly as it became clear that official health pages, emergency safety warnings and welfare networks had all been scrubbed from the site along with news.
“Facebook was wrong, Facebook’s actions were unnecessary, they were heavy-handed, and they will damage its reputation here in Australia,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told a televised news conference.
Frydenberg said Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg gave no warning of the news shutdown when the pair spoke over the weekend about looming laws that will force both Facebook and search engine giant Google to pay local publishers for content.
The two men had a subsequent conversation on Thursday morning which was “constructive”, Frydenberg said, adding they discussed what he called “differing interpretations” about how the new Media Bargaining Code would work.
Facebook’s drastic move represents a split from Alphabet Inc-owned Google after they initially joined together to campaign against the laws. Both had threatened to cancel services in Australia, but Google has instead sealed preemptive deals with several outlets in recent days.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp was the latest to announce a deal in which it will receive “significant payments” from Google in return for providing content for the search engine’s News Showcase account.
Google declined to comment on the Facebook decision on Thursday.
The Australian law would require Facebook and Google to reach commercial deals with news outlets whose links drive traffic to their platforms, or be subjected to forced arbitration to agree a price.
Facebook said in its statement that the law, which is expected to be passed by parliament within days, “fundamentally misunderstands” the relationship between itself and publishers and it faced a stark choice of attempting to comply or banning news content.
BLANK PAGES
The changes made by Facebook wiped clean pages operated by news outlets and removed posts by individual users sharing Australian news, three days before the country begins a nationwide vaccination program to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Lisa Davies, editor of daily The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, owned by Nine Entertainment Co Ltd, tweeted: “Facebook has exponentially increased the opportunity for misinformation, dangerous radicalism and conspiracy theories to abound on its platform.”
The Facebook pages of Nine and News Corp, which together dominate the country’s metro newspaper market, and the government-funded Australian Broadcasting Corp, which acts as a central information source during natural disasters, were blank.
Also affected were several major state government accounts, including those providing advice on the coronavirus pandemic and bushfire threats at the height of the summer season, and scores of charity and non-governmental organisation accounts.
“This is UNACCEPTABLE,” tweeted Brianna Casey, chief executive of hunger relief charity Foodbank.
“Demand for food relief has never been higher than during this pandemic, and one of our primary comms tools to help connect people with #foodrelief info & advice is now unavailable. Hours matter when you have nothing to eat. SORT THIS OUT!”
SOME PAGES RESTORED
By mid-afternoon, many government-backed Facebook pages were restored but several charity pages and all media sites remained dark, including those of international outlets like the New York Times, the BBC and News Corp’s Wall Street Journal.
A Facebook representative in Australia did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the situation. Facebook Australia’s own page was down for a period of time before being restored.
“This is an alarming and dangerous turn of events,” said Human Rights Watch in a statement. “Cutting off access to vital information to an entire country in the dead of the night is unconscionable.”
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said Facebook had sent the message to Australians that “you will not find content on our platform which comes from an organisation which employs professional journalists, which has editorial policies, which has fact-checking processes”.
Health Minister Greg Hunt said Facebook pages of numerous community health projects had been shuttered and “the fact that the kids cancer project could be affected, is, frankly a disgrace”.
Myanmar junta targets paralysing strikes, as arrests near 500
(Reuters) – Myanmar’s military junta has issued arrest warrants against six celebrities for encouraging strikes that have paralysed many government offices in protests against this month’s coup, with total arrests since then now nearing 500.
Late on Wednesday, security forces opened fire in Myanmar’s second biggest city of Mandalay as they confronted railway workers who had stopped trains running as part of the civil disobedience movement. One person was wounded, residents said.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across the Southeast Asian country on Wednesday in some of the biggest protests yet against the Feb. 1 coup and detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Early on Thursday, police ordered dozens of chanting protesters to disperse from a busy intersection near the main university in Yangon, the country’s largest city. Students were due to gather in a different part of the city later.
The street marches have been more peaceful than bloodily suppressed demonstrations in a previous half century of army rule, but they and the civil disobedience movement have had a crippling effect on much official business.
The army announced late on Wednesday that six celebrities, including film directors, actors and a singer, were wanted under an anti-incitement law for encouraging civil servants to join in the protest.
The charges can carry a two-year prison sentence.
Some of those on the list were defiant.
“It’s amazing to see the unity of our people. People’s power must return to the people,” actor Lu Min posted on his Facebook page.
Despite junta appeals for civil servants to return to work and threats of actions if they do not, there has been no sign of the strikes easing.
SHOTS FIRED
Train services have been badly disrupted and after dark, security forces in the second-biggest city of Manadalay confronted striking railway workers, opening fire with rubber bullets and catapults and throwing stones, residents said.
One charity worker was wounded in the leg by a rubber bullet.
Neither the army nor the police made any immediate comment on the incident, but the army’s Facebook page said forces were providing security across the country to “make sure people have tranquillity and sound sleep”.
The number of people known to have been detained since the coup halted a tentative transition towards democracy had reached 495 by Wednesday, Myanmar’s Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said in a statement.
It said 460 were still being held.
The army took power after the electoral commission rejected its accusations of fraud in a Nov. 8 election swept by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, prompting anger from Western countries as well as the local protests.
More demonstrations were planned for Thursday – including by student groups and workers from different ethnic groups in the diverse country of more than 53 million people.
Coup opponents are deeply sceptical of junta promises to hand over power after a new election for which no date has yet been set.
Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi, detained since the coup, now faces a charge of violating a Natural Disaster Management Law as well as charges of illegally importing six walkie talkie radios. Her next court appearance has been set for March 1.
Suu Kyi, 75, spent nearly 15 years under house arrest for her efforts to bring democracy.
The army says that one policeman died of injuries sustained in a protest. One protester who was shot in the head during a protest in the capital Naypyitaw is being kept on life support, but doctors say she is not expected to survive.