TOBY SHAPSHAK: Google blinked, Facebook didn’t
Despite the poor legislation, Facebook’s blocking of Australian news reminded the world of the power of social media giants
The Australian government has done the world a huge favour. Recognising the devastating impact of Facebook and Google on the media industry, they imposed a strict new requirement for the two big tech giants to "pay back da money".
Google blinked, Facebook didn’t. Even for Facebook, with its perverse talent for public relations disasters, this was a new low. Not only did it ban all news operations, but a list of essential services and government pages as well. It banned its own corporate page. If ever proof were needed of Facebook’s inept internal processes, this was it — and it is just as inept at managing its outward policies, as we’ve seen many times...
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