WHAT FACEBOOK’S DECISION TO BAN NEWS SHARING IN AUSTRALIA ACTUALLY MEANS

Publishers and news outlets are scrambling after Facebook’s decision to ban news content from being shared in Australia was announced on Thursday.

Facebook and Google have been the subject of a new proposed Media Bargaining Law in Australia, which the government has yet to pass, which would see the digital giants pay for the distribution of shared news content across their platforms.

Earlier this week, Google announced an agreement with news publishers Seven and West Australian Newspapers which is tipped to be just the first of many agreements within Australia. Facebook has gone the other way – at this point.

So what does this mean?

It essentially means that if you are on Facebook you cannot view ANY content that is produced or published by ANY media organisation. Go ahead, try jumping onto the Daily Telegraph, Channel 7, BBC or even CNN facebook pages. You can’t.

And it also opens the door for more ‘fake news’ and ‘hate speech’ to be spread and shared among the masses that live and breathe social media. Without a reputable news outlet to compare news with (on Facebook anyway), people may just believe what the ‘Average Joe’ is sharing or posting on their respective page without actually checking the facts.

This isn’t the end of the matter though and it is still hoped that some sort of resolution can be reached.

It will be interesting times though because the response from the Australian Government has been furious and I dare say, many of the general public would be feeling the same too.