I don't watch TV and now that The Don is gone and Rush turned belly up, I have NO idea what's going on in the world!!

Is it true Facebook and Google have you now knowing even less about what's going on than I do?

I would think that people referencing and linking news articles would be useful to the news organizations. People would follow the links to their pages. The news organizations would get eyes on their advertisements and a chance to pitch online subscriptions. Or am I missing something?

Hi Elderolddog, Faceboook has put a blanket ban on all Australian news, including government, health and charity pages. From what I can gather it is their response to our media demanding that Facebook pay them for using anything newsworthy.

Now, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, a senior Facebook exec has apologised for blocking health and emergency sites.

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/we-are-sorry-senior-facebook-exec-apologises-for-blocking-health-emergency-sites-20210219-p5745a.html

>>From what I can gather it is their response to our media demanding that Facebook pay them for using anything newsworthy.

I read that to mean that FB is not letting users share news articles on their private accounts. Is this correct? If so, the news organizations are insane. FB is not a news site. And the news organizations can decide if they want to maintain a FB page or not.

Have I missed an overarching story about Australia?

Gordon B. Stinky Wrote:
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> Have I missed an overarching story about
> Australia?


I don't really know, as I am but a slothful seeker of the sordid "truths" of the world.

Here's the blurb that gave me notice that something untoward was going down in Australia. It has links to additional contextual stories within it. If you decipher the matter, please do not hesitate to fill me the F in...

https://apnews.com/article/facebook-continues-news-block-australia-e0b545d3ba541c2de8389c6bd0a6f23f

If it's just a matter of users sharing links, I'm with Facebook on this one. It would be like charging RfM for the apnews link above.

Just off the top of my head, if this is the case, then people should pay something per month to be on Facebook and then Facebook could pay that to the outlets who spent money to produce what was being shared...

Or maybe there's a point of view that says, "Facebook makes a lot of money charging advertisers, so it's up to them to spread that money around to content providers."

I say hook'em all up to lie-detectors and ferret out the truth of where the money goes! Make the flow of money equitable!

I'm a Radical!! Someone watch my back!!

For the most part, users are not posting the articles. Just the links.

summer Wrote:
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> It would be like
> charging RfM for the apnews link above.

Good comparison.

I don't use FB so am often in the dark on some details about the world!

Atlas shrugged.

Just with data not copper.

I'm still chuckling about Australia losing the war against emus.

Dave the Atheist Wrote:
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> I'm still chuckling about Australia losing the war
> against emus.

Well it could have been a lot worse for us if the rabbits had been able to join up with the emus, but we outfoxed them there and erected a 3256 kilometre (approx 2023 miles) rabbit proof fence. As for the koalas, they are always too drunk on eucalyptus oil and slept through it all.

These days we no longer declare war on our wild life, we leave it to our overseas visitors to go hunting for the elusive but dangerous drop bears and hoop snakes.

Aussie news?

Total deaths from the virus - 909.

Less than most US States.

Thanks for asking, EOD. There's a battle going on over a new media code designed to increase the share of advertising revenue earned by local media organisations versus big tech.

Facebook earns a lot from advertising in Australia, and doesn't pay much tax in this country, preferring to divert revenues via its offices in international tax havens. Many people receive news content free via Facebook instead of paying for it directly from the media.

Facebook's negotiation tactics have been heavy-handed, whereas Google and Microsoft's Bing are signing up to agreements with media companies under the Code. There's arguments either way, but we generally think its a good idea to support our independent news media. I don't use Facebook myself, and have plenty of subscriptions, but some are suddenly learning that you shouldn't rely on one algorithm for all your information about the world.

On another front, we have no community transmission at present and vaccines have arrived, along with some more anti-vaxxers.

Very sorry to hear about the icing up of Texas and we hope that things start to improve for you guys again in spring. Meanwhile we are in hopefully our last Perth heatwave for the summer.

Bestest...