MExperts say powerful viral clickbait has taken over Facebook and Instagram in Canada after Meta removed news from the platforms nine months ago. Now Australia could face a similar scenario online, with the company preparing to battle the Australian government over payments to news organizations.
Last week, Meta announced it would no longer make payments to Australian news publishers, prompting the Australian government to consider using its legislative powers to force the platform to negotiate payments with news publishers. Ta.
The controversy could prevent Australian news organizations from posting links to their content on Facebook or Instagram, as Meta did for six days in 2021, and as Canada has done since mid-last year. The possibility is increasing.
Experts say Canada’s ban has done little damage to the social media giants, but it has hurt the news organizations Canada most wanted to support.
In June 2023, the Canadian federal government introduced Bill C-18, which aims to increase revenue for Canadian journalism publishers by requiring Meta and Google’s parent company Alphabet to compensate publishers for hosting and linking content. (Online News Act) was passed.
Both tech companies initially balked at the prospect, but Alphabet ultimately agreed to a deal with the government in November. Under the terms of the deal, Google’s parent company will contribute C$73.6 million (A$83 million) annually to be distributed to Canadian news publishers. Experts said the deal was in part because C-18 targeted link sharing and indexing, key aspects of Alphabet’s business model.
But Mehta is resisting the law’s restrictions, arguing it is “fundamentally flawed”. In response, it blocked all news sharing on its platforms, including Instagram and Facebook. Prior to the ban, Meta also announced it was ending its partnership with the Canadian Press, which had funded 30 reporting fellowships for young journalists starting in 2020.
The ban took effect in August amid the worst wildfire season in the country’s history, but lawmakers feared it would prevent Canadians from accessing the latest news in their communities and prevent evacuations. . The broadcaster denounced the move as “anti-competitive behavior” and said it violated regulations. federal law.
Mehta said in a statement at the time: “The Online News Act is based on the false premise that Meta is unfairly profiting from the news content shared on our platforms, when the opposite is true. We voluntarily share content on Facebook and Instagram to help grow our audience and generate revenue.”
Non-news content created by viral content makers is filling the space left by news articles.
“Real Facebook without news has turned out to be more harmful than I expected,” said Jean Hughes-Roy, a journalism professor at the University of Quebec.
2022, Roy conducted a simulation He said he conducted a study on what users would see on Facebook if news was banned, but the reality of the ban was worse than the simulation predicted.
“Viral content creators take news content, make it more sensational by adding misleading information or false details, and publish it on their Facebook pages or Instagram accounts. Such content is blocked by Meta. No, but the actual news will be blocked.”
However, the move doesn’t seem to have affected how Canadians use Facebook.
The number of daily active users on Facebook and the amount of time spent on the social network have changed little since the news block began, according to figures from two digital analytics firms shared with Reuters.
Part of Meta’s argument against compensating Canadian journalistic outlets was that links to news articles accounted for less than 3% of Facebook feeds in the country. This was also the argument made regarding Australia’s decision.
Chris Waddell, of Carleton University’s School of Journalism, said Meta is increasingly wary of its position in the news industry.
“I don’t think we’ve lost any advertisers,” he says. “I don’t know if their decisions really made a difference.” [to the company].
“Meta would do that.” I like to get a break from news from other places. It’s hard to imagine that the company really wants to get dragged into the controversy surrounding the impending US election, with AI-generated fake information being posted on Facebook. It’s a real minefield for them. If they’re right, they only make 3% to 4% of their revenue from news, so I can understand why they would bail out of it. ”
News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson told reporters on Monday that Meta’s 3% claim was “obviously a fabrication and an absurd number.”
“So how much discussion is there about the news? If there is a core news, then the latest factual information on Facebook is 100% news. And these are the things Facebook focuses on. We should also focus on our responsibilities to all Australians.”
Most large publications are finding new ways to redirect users to their sites. But Facebook’s refusal to allow links to be shared on its platform has a huge impact on small publishers.
Eden Fineday, publisher of Indige News, an Indigenous-led online journalism outlet, said traffic on the site has fallen by 43% since the ban.
“Facebook is a very indigenous platform,” Fineday told the Toronto Star. “This is a place where a lot of Indigenous communities connect with each other. So it hurts us. Indigenous people are the least considered demographic, especially by corporate America. They’re not just forgotten, they’re also more vulnerable to these changes. It’s sad that companies don’t consider who is being harmed.”
New Brunswick Media Cooperative Announces loss of 5,000 Facebook followers Prior to being banned from the meta.
Twenty independent media outlets, including the New Brunswick Media Cooperative, have banded together to try to make up for the loss of traffic. not equipped. The purpose is both to strengthen bargaining positions and to share news more effectively with readers.
Waddell said smaller publishers must do the most to win back readers in order to survive.
“Ironically, those that have been most affected are small start-up publications and publications that have been around for some time that have used Facebook as a promotional tool to reach a wider audience.” he said.
Roy said he is concerned about what the disappearance of news from Meta’s platform would mean for Canadian democracy.
“The latest Reuters Journalism Institute Digital News Report found that 45 per cent of Canadians cite social media as a source of news, and the same percentage is true in Australia. “I’m worried” news doesn’t exist anymore. ”
Source: www.theguardian.com
