Facebook is keeping its promise to cut off news from its services in Australia. Amidst the ongoing dispute between the social media giant, Google and the Australian government over newly introduced legislation that will mandate payment to news outlets for their contents, the American companies have threatened to withdraw their services from Australia as they failed to reach a consensus with the government.

While Google seeks a way-out through deals with media outlets, Facebook chose to cut ties with anything news in Australia.

“In response to Australia’s proposed new Media Bargaining law, Facebook will restrict publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content,” a statement from the social media platform said.

The new legislation means Facebook and Google will have to bargain with newsrooms either individually or collectively – and to enter arbitration if the parties can’t reach an agreement within three months, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Both Google and Facebook have opposed the code, saying it will have negative impact on how their services are served in Australia. Facebook’s vice president of public policy for Asia, Simon Milner said the company could ultimately block news content in Australia.

In a statement on Wednesday, Facebook said the “proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content,” and it has “left us facing a stark choice.” Attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship, or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia. The Silicon Valley tech said it’s choosing the latter.

On the other hand, Google is choosing to preemptively use its News Show Room to negotiate deals with Australian publishers, including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., Australian media conglomerate Nine Entertainment and Seven West Media.

Facebook said the value exchange between Facebook and publishers runs in favor of the publishers– which is the reverse of what the legislation would require the arbitrator to assume. For instance, last year, it generated approximately 5.1 billion free referrals to Australian publishers worth an estimated AU$407 million.

“For Facebook, the business gain from news is minimal. News makes up less than 4% of the content people see in their News Feed,” Facebook said.

It means Facebook has much to lose than it has to gain if the proposed legislation, which has been approved by the lower chamber of parliament and would likely be approved by senate, goes into effect.

Just as Google is doing with News Show Room, Facebook has tried for the past three years to launch Facebook News in Australia to calm the situation, but the Australian lawmakers were not ready to yield.

Facebook said the decision means that Australian publishers are restricted from sharing or posting any content on Facebook pages. And for international publishers, they can continue to publish news content on Facebook, but links and posts can’t be viewed or shared by Australian audiences.

The decision also restricts Australian community from viewing or sharing Australian and international news pages, while it prohibits international community from viewing and sharing Australian news content from Australian news pages.

As Australians woke up to the reality of this decision – disappeared news feeds and restricted publishers’ pages, anger and condemnation have erupted.

News publishers, rights activists and even politicians said the decision is disappointing as it is coming amidst conspiracy theories of COVID-19 pandemic when people are using authentic news welfare platforms to get reliable information. Report from Australia says official health pages, emergency safety warnings and welfare networks had all been scrubbed from the site along with news.

“Facebook’s actions to unfriend Australia today, cutting off essential information services on health and emergency services, were as arrogant as they were disappointing,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison wrote on his Facebook page.

Much of the concern centers on the widespread misinformation Facebook’s action will cause. Australia, which has been battling COVID-19 misinformation, will begin a nationwide vaccination in three days, and needs the trusted news platforms to disseminate accurate information.

“Facebook has exponentially increased the opportunity for misinformation, dangerous radicalism and conspiracy theories to abound on its platform,” Lisa Davies, editor of daily The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper tweeted.

A 2020 University of Canberra study found 21% of Australians use social media as their primary news source, that’s 3% increase from last year, while 39% of the population uses Facebook to receive news. The study also said 29% of Australians news video content is consumed on Facebook.

This means the effect of Facebook’s decision cuts across fields, especially those offering humanitarian services, and its impact will go beyond opening doors for fake news.

Thanks Fidelity Bank PLC for discovering this village boy for the big day. Before you hit the airwaves at scale, I just want to tell all diaspora communities here that a big day is coming, to share with the Vice President, central bank governor, and other leaders of our nation, our perspectives on FX, as it relates to supporting visions and missions in our nation. More details later.

At 8am New York time today, BBC Radio syndicated hourly update dropped a hard one: General Bashir Salihi Magashi (rtd), Nigeria’s Minister of Defence, has told Nigerians to defend themselves against criminal elements in the country. He argued that most times those bad guys come with few rounds of ammunition and must not necessarily scare Nigerians.  I checked and just saw the video.

Largely, Nigerians should go and stockpile weapons for self-defense! Then, if that is the case why do we need Police, etc? I am hoping that this statement is a gaffe and not a strategic policy position in the nation. But if that is what they have in mind, Nigeria has a big challenge because it would be a rat race.

Yet, there is wisdom in this statement except that state governments will be funding local hunters now to make sure they have weapons to defend communities. It may be very ugly!

What do you think?

Comment on LinkedIn Feed

The guy has basically given up on Nigeria’s security apparatus, so instead of selling more lies, he’s telling you that the government is actually incapacitated, when it comes to protecting and keeping you safe. It’s quite revealing, but it’s something we are already aware of, the only difference is that you don’t expect a public servant to say it.

I expect the government to issue series of press releases, claiming mischaracterization, misrepresentation and misunderstanding, which will help mitigate the blowbacks it would receive as a response for making this uninvited confession.

The problem is never about asking people to protect themselves, but with what calibre of weapons and who defines and coordinates rules of engagement? Some things are not as easy as they seem, before we turn the entire land into a jungle.

Maybe we should just declare a national public holiday, then ask all Nigerians to enter the forests, caves and waters, and chase away the criminals and terrorists killing our people.

Nigeria is failing, while Buhari is snoring; and the confidence in the nation state is waning.

Somebody needs to take charge, the only ambiguity now is who?

Good People, in Tekedia Mini-MBA, a key component of our playbook is digital execution. We do believe that the future of markets is digital. To make that happen, we have many programs in the domain, including digital transformation, digital strategy, etc. More so, to deepen the capabilities, we needed a component on Enterprise Digital Architecture.

Samuel Mbonu MBA, CISSP, CISM, TOGAF 9 CERTIFIED will teach that in our institute. He is the CIO of Tangerine Life, a really amazing financial services company. That firm is seeding innovative startups like CredPal through its novel thesis.

Mr Mbonu is an expert in this domain – he has worked in Stanbic Bank, GTBank, First Bank, etc. And the most exciting, he graduated from FUTO. Yes, the best! He will help us understand what business managers need to know on digital enterprise architecture towards building great digital firms.

Tekedia Institute – learn from the best school.

On Saturday, I will kickstart our academic festival, the Tekedia Live. It is the most exciting part of Tekedia Institute Mini-MBA. We co-share and co-learn, from those who teach us, and those we inspire. To our members, the link is in the Board and the time noted. By the time we are done with this edition, more than 30 business leaders would have anchored Live with the Q/A sessions.

I grew up in the village. And through grace and hardwork, I have reached heights across the globe, from Moscow to London to Seattle to Cape Town. I use these experiences to elevate the minds of our innovators, and challenge them to inspire higher.

On Saturday, we will begin with “Innovation and Growth – The Path to Category-King”. It would be amazing!