SPECIAL EPISODE - Facebook Bans News Sharing In Australia

Welcome back to the Marketer for marketing analysis by digital marketing experts Carma Levene & Clayton Smith, and my goodness is there stuff to talk about this week.

How did we get here - Read Carma’s breakdown on how got here

Facebook’s statement

https://about.fb.com/news/2021/02/changes-to-sharing-and-viewing-news-on-facebook-in-australia/

“..as we have made clear to the Australian government for many months, 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. Last year Facebook 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. Journalism is important to a democratic society, which is why we build dedicated, free tools to support news organisations around the world in innovating their content for online audiences.”

What has been the effects on news media so far

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-19/facebook-referral-traffic-down-news-ban-morrison-frydenberg/13171568

What is the Australian news media saying about this

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/we-will-not-be-intimidated-pm-takes-facebook-fight-to-india-and-the-world-20210218-p573se.html

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/facebook-s-devastating-display-of-defiance-is-vintage-zuckerberg-20210219-p5741b.html

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-19/facebook-news-ban-could-backfire-advertisers-communities/13169930

What is international news media saying about this

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/outrage-facebook-blocks-access-news-content-australia-rcna297

Events

GTM Awards Night - Thursday 25th Feb at Henry Summer