I don't get where it starts and ends for FB. What about a popular Cooking demonstration thing on FB, will FB be forced to pay them as well in the future? A musician doing tutorials, will FB be forced to pay them as well? Why is everyone so hung up on only the News being rewarded for their content and click throughs? There are numerous examples of great content being created and not rewarded. In my mind they are being rewarded via click throughs to their website where they can monetise what they are doing be it via Ads on the site, subscriptions etc they are not paying FB for use of the platform (i.e if it is free you are the product), how else would they get the same exposure? I always saw it as a you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.
Thats exactly my take on it.
It's a vexed question. Who gains the most?
I contend that FB provides a free service to those who chose to use it. They have, by way of offering something no one else did, managed to take over and manipulate the populations personal information but Govt never regulated that, and is not attempting to regulate it now with their new legislation.
The Govt are only trying to get payment for the big news organisations. Joe Blow with his blog or public interest site, wont get a cent bc FB will tell him/her business to get lost.
I realise they are manipulators and all powerful but I believe in free enterprise for all not just Big Media. Our news gathering is very limited already. We can virtually foresee no investigative journalists if that diversity of news comes to pass with this law.
FB provide a free site to all businesses who care to set up their page. In reality, millions of people have access to their free exposure and advertising. They also provide free to the public community pages, the Govt themselves set up sites to get info to the public in disasters, health crises, welfare etc etc etc.
How many other businesses, are there any?, that provide such a level of engagement and wholesale availability free of charge to put your business, connect with family etc etc etc.
I think many businesses are finding that it is of great, free benefit to them and their traffic and sales enquiries are way down.
Anyway this rant is not to praise Zuckerberg and his oligarch ways...there's no defence of the way FB has evolved and wormed its way into every inch of our lives.
I just point out that the Govt is not trying to curb his power. They just want FB to pay Big Media and the legislation does not even stipulate that it must be used in employing, or even keep, the existing journalists we do have ...even after Murdoch sacked hundreds after closing down every single Regional newspaper he bought up as part of his monopoly.
There's lots of issues to think through for mine.
