Facebook removes (and then restores) news content from Australian pages
UPDATE AS OF 3pm — 23rd February, 2021
Facebook and the Australian government have reached an agreement to bring back news to Australian pages.
The social media conglomerate said "[we] appreciate the constructive discussions we've had with Treasurer Frydenberg and Minister Fletcher over the past week."
News sites are expected to be restored over the coming days.
UPDATE AS OF 10am — 19th February, 2021
Prime Minister Scott Morrison posted to Facebook to express disappointment in Facebook’s actions, strongly hinting that the company should be following in Google’s footsteps to make constructive steps.
Scott Morrison’s post to Facebook regarding the platform’s actions.
UPDATE AS OF 12pm — 18th February, 2021
Some Facebook pages have begun to be reinstated including the Bureau of Meteorology and The Betoota Advocate. We predict that this will continue with other pages throughout the day as Facebook rectifies the full wipe out from earlier.
The Betoota Advocate is categorised primarily as an “Entertainment Website” page, although it is still listed as a “Satire/Parody” and “Newspaper” page.
The Betoota Advocate’s Facebook page was reinstated at midday following the removal of news content from Australian sites
UPDATE AS OF 11am — 18th February, 2021
The Australian media landscape changed dramatically overnight with the announcement from Facebook that news can no longer be viewed or shared on Australian accounts — both people and publishers.
The pop-up notifying Australian Facebook users about the changes to news content.
The move comes in response to the News Media Bargaining Code (NMBC) that was put forward in August which aims to ensure news media companies are compensated for their journalism.
The announcement was made by Facebook overnight (17th February American time) leaving many publishers and businesses in a state of shock this morning. There is of course the consideration that many jobs have been lost due to this decision.
Google and YouTube have been considering the impact of the NMBC for some time now but neither have yet to make snap movements like Facebook today.
@mathewi, Columbia Journalism Review’s Chief Digital Writer, on Facebook’s update.
All news sites’ posts have been wiped and the clearing has also extended to government websites, as well as a wide range of brands and non-profit organisations. It seems that Facebook has used the categorisation of pages (eg. News, Blog, School, Media Company) and will work to reinstate pages whereby the move may have been mistakenly removed.
To do this, we are using a combination of technologies to restrict news content and we will have processes to review any content that was inadvertently removed.
Even Facebook’s own page has been cleared and does not seem to be rectified by switching the page’s region.
Facebook’s own page as of 18th February, 2021 (AEDST).
To summarise what Facebook users can now do, see the below, separated into personal and business accounts:
AUSTRALIAN NEWS BASED PAGES…
… cannot share or post any news content on Facebook Pages
… and their account admins can still access the backend of Pages including Creator Studio, Catalogue Manager and Post Insights.
INTERNATIONAL PAGES…
… can share and view news content on Facebook, but links and posts are void for Australian users to share or view.
THE AUSTRALIAN COMMUNITY…
… cannot share and view news content, regardless of who it has been published by.
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY…
… cannot share and view Australian news content.
As of 2pm, The Age’s page still shows posts and cover image removed.
A press conference was held this morning with Communications Minister, Paul Fletcher, and Federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenburg, with the latter speaking with Mark Zuckerberg this morning.
Mr Frydenburg described the conversation as “cordial” and “constructive”.
"We want them to remain in Australia, but we also want them to pay for original content.
Yes, there are some differences, but let's see if we can work them through.”
— Mr Frydenburg
Mr Fletcher saying there is now doubt over news credibility on social media. Even with news content on the site, Facebook has long held a poor reputation for not fact-checking content on their platform, particularly relating to health, science and politics.
The Managing Director of the ABC, David Anderson, spoke to the ABC News program this morning is hopeful that content would remain available through the website and the app.
"Despite key issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic having ongoing effects on all Australians, Facebook has today removed important and credible news and information sources from its Australian platform.”
— David Anderson
The ABC News Australia page following the removal of news content from Facebook this morning.
Our team will be keeping a keen eye on the developing story and add updates here when we know.