Social media Facebook has banned Australians from sharing and viewing Australian news content on its platform, meaning that Australian users are unable to view and share international news on the platform, and Facebook users in other countries are unable to read or share Australian news content.
Politicians around the world have condemned Facebook’s practice of restricting Australians from sharing information on its platform. Some have criticized the tech giant’s actions as “anti-democratic” and more like a “dictatorship.
Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law, said the technology giant’s actions are “anti-democratic” and more like a “dictatorship. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law, tweeted that the move clearly demonstrates that Facebook is incompatible with democracy.
Cicilline said, “Threatening the entire country with the terms of Facebook’s subjugation is the ultimate confirmation of monopoly power.”
Cicilline has been an outspoken critic of the tech giant company. He is also currently pushing for increasingly stringent antitrust laws against Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple.
Cicilline isn’t the only one to denounce Facebook Inc. in recent days.
A spokeswoman for the British government told on Friday (Feb. 19) that they were encouraging Facebook and the Australian government to work together to find a solution, while condemning the ban on Facebook for hindering people’s access to health information during the Epidemic.
The spokesperson said, “It is vital that people are able to access accurate news and information from a variety of sources, especially during a global epidemic.”
The chairman of the British parliamentary committee that oversees the media industry also criticized Facebook, saying the tech giant was “bullying” Australia.
He told the BBC, “I think it’s extremely irresponsible to do that at a Time when we’re dealing with a lot of fake news and fake news about the COVID (Chinese Communist virus) vaccine.” “This is not just an Australian issue. It’s Facebook making a mark and announcing to the world that if you really want to limit our rights …… we can block things that would be useful to many people.”
Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault also condemned Facebook’s actions and said the practice would not deter Ottawa, according to Reuters.
“Canada is at the forefront of this battle …… we are one of the first countries in the world to do so,” Guilbeault said. “I suspect that soon five, 10, 15 countries will adopt similar regulations, and Facebook will cut off its ties with Germany, France?”
Russian President Vladimir Putin also recently warned about the negative role of top social network operators.
In an online address to the World Economic Forum in Davos on Jan. 27, Putin called big tech companies abusive. And he noted that the recent activities of these tech giants during the U.S. elections have led people to question their monopoly in the social media sphere.
“Society is questioning whether this monopoly is in the public interest,” Putin said. “Where is the line between successful global commerce, popular services and big data integration, and attempts to govern society at their own discretion and in an assertive manner, displacing legitimate democratic institutions and essentially usurping or limiting people’s natural right to decide for themselves how to live, what to choose and what positions to express freely?”
Global publishers also reacted to the situation, with the parent company of the Guardian expressing “deep concern” about the situation. And the head of Germany’s BDZV news publishers’ association said, “It is high time that governments around the world limited the market power of portal platforms.”
Australian PM: The world can’t be dominated by big tech companies
The comments from British and U.S. politicians and global publishers come as Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned that the world cannot be dominated by big tech companies.
In a media statement posted on Facebook, Morrison called Facebook’s actions “arrogant.
Morrison said, “These actions only confirm that more and more countries are expressing concern about the behavior of large technology companies that believe they are bigger than governments and that rules should not apply to them. They may be changing the world, but that doesn’t mean they’re running it.”
He also reiterated that the Australian Parliament would not be deterred by Facebook’s move because it was ready to vote on guidelines for news media negotiations.
He said, “When Australia pulled other countries together to crack down on posting terrorist content on social media platforms and Amazon threatened to leave Australia, we were not deterred. I encourage Facebook to work constructively with the Australian government.”
Australia’s Finance Minister Josh Frydenberg also said Friday that Australia’s determination to push for new media guidelines is strong.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast, Frydenberg said, “There’s more at stake here than one or two commercial deals. This is about Australia’s sovereignty.”
He said, “We live in a world where there’s a revolution in the digital economy. We’re very aware of that. That’s why we commissioned this groundbreaking report from the ACCC. If it were that simple, other countries would have done it already, so we’re trying to succeed where they’ve failed.”
Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan told reporters that as a company in the United States, “the world’s greatest democracy,” Facebook’s actions were “anti-democratic It’s “anti-democratic.
McGowan said Facebook’s actions were “intimidating, threatening and wrong” and called on the U.S. government to help its “greatest ally” reach an agreement with Facebook.
McGowan said, “They shouldn’t condone a company that acts like a North Korean dictator.”
The Biden administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Recent Comments