Reactions to Facebook’s news pullout in Australia have been mixed as users take in what this means for journalism, Australian democracy and their favourite cartoonists.
Here are some of the big reactions to Facebook’s big move.
The initial shock
The first reaction was plain shock that Facebook had actually followed through on what many had thought was a bluff, and had left the Australian platform a news desert.
The shock took on an edge of disbelief as people quickly worked out just how many things Facebook counted as news.
Goodbye and good riddance!
Of course there were those who were happy to say goodbye to the tech giant.
‘I told you so’
And many, many people who saw it coming (including some of our own).
The demise of democracy
Unsurprisingly, many held Facebook’s actions up as the next step in the demise of democracy in Australia and around the world. Reactions to this were mixed, from comments on the fact that Rupert Murdoch has got exactly what he wanted, to calls for new, free tech platforms.
The very real impact
The true gravity of the situation didn’t go unnoticed. Removing a key source of public information during a global pandemic, in a country that frequently experiences natural disasters, will have very real impacts for communities across the country.
The real winners
And of course, everyone is aware who the real winners are.
People keep saying this, and similar nonsense. Facebook was never the source of any public information. Everyone else were the sources, and they’re all still there. The world-wide-web still works.
The state-government Covid health pages are still there.
The BoM is still there.
Nothing has been lost.
Ketan Joshi: you forgot to mention that when NewsCrop [sic] wins, the Liberals win. “What’s good for Rupert Minderbinder is good for Australia”.
We’ve spent the past god-knows-how-many-years bemoaning the Facebook echo chamber effect, where people only read/hear news on Facebook that mirrors their preexisting beliefs, which led to the polarisation of our country (and many others). I can’t help but feel that this will force people to get their news from other places, and that might expose them to some alternate viewpoints?
Having never relied on FB for my news but rather on media websites, I’ve not noticed any missing news at all. What’s all the fuss about?