Social Media Standing Up To Dictators; Time Will Tell

Michael Hedges February 22, 2021 Follow on Twitter

The news isn’t good and it isn’t fun. Yes, some people still read. Others watch and listen. What everybody does, says the conventional wisdom, is share, like and such. There isn’t a conversation like the post-modernist journalists want. They still expect peace, freedom, togetherness and the free flow of information. It’s a transaction that exacts a price.

Measures taken by the military rulers of Myanmar, also known as Burma, to quell massive demonstrations have turned from restive to fatal. Since abruptly detaining President Win Myint and State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi February 1st leaders of country’s army, the Tatmadaw, have faced broad international condemnation. International news coverage of the brutality has been equally damning, not least because the National League for Democracy party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won “a landslide” in general elections last November, reported Nikkei Asia (February 21). Demonstrators are asking for a return to democracy. A young anti-coup protestor shot in the head by police February 9th died a week later. Two more were shot and killed this past weekend in Mandalay, the country’s largest city.

Information - even communication - does not flow freely in the country. “In Myanmar, Facebook is the internet,” noted the BBC (February 4), as the military rulers shut it down both “to ensure stability.” Even though a United Nations human rights commission concluded three years ago that social media played “a key role” in propagating hate speech and extremism it remains “a huge part of public, civil and private life,” said its report, noted Reuters (March 12, 2018). Facebook removed the Tatmadaw page from its portal this weekend for “repeated violations… prohibiting incitement of violence and coordinating harm,” reported Reuters (February 21).

For its part, Facebook officials have taken a significant turn on hate speech and “inciting offline violence.” Last December, the company updated its Community Standards guidelines to a harder line on racial hate speech, reported the Washington Post (December 3, 2020), seen as a response to the rise in white supremacist postings in the United States. After far-right extremists attacked the US Capital building, resulting in several deaths, Facebook banned then-president Donald Trump from the portal for “(inciting) violent insurrection against a democratically elected government,” said chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, quoted by US political news portal Roll Call (January 7).

Last summer Facebook faced a boycott from advertisers, about 1,100 mostly American brands, over hate speech and disinformation. Organized by major US civil rights groups, it lasted about two months though some brands have stayed away from the Facebook advertising eco-system. Although the long-term effect was minimal, advertisers and media buyers took this as an opportunity to protect their brands from association by adjacency. The boycott - StopHateForProfit - was credited, noted CNN (October 12, 2020), for adjusting the company’s position on hate speech.

Earlier this week Facebook made headlines for removing from the platform essentially all Australian news organizations. The howling from publishers and the politicians who serve them was raw and lasted through about one complete news cycle. It might have lasted longer but shutdown published news out of, into and through Australia. The BBC on Sunday (February 21) did run a cute animal story from Australia.

The Australian government set this in motion a new law - the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code - meant to force Facebook into paying news organizations when third-party individuals share or post news links on the platform. The same law, expected to pass the Australian Senate this coming week, caused Australian publishers to strike pay-to-click deals with Google before financial considerations became part of mandatory arbitration. Other nations gazing at the Australian law in hopes of making their biggest publishers happy could be having second thoughts.

The proposed new law "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,” said Facebook managing director for Australia William Easton, in a blog post (February 17). “With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter.” And poof, they were gone.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who knows on which side his bread is buttered, so to speak, first called Facebook “arrogant” for “unfriending Australia.” “We simply won’t be intimidated,” he added, recorded the BBC (February 19). Another government official said the dispute threatens Facebook’s “credibility” but a day later the two were “back at the table.”

Facebook’s objections to the Code remain unchanged, according to Asia Pacific policy director Simon Milner, quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald (February 20). Facebook wants to differentiate between news organizations that demand money and those that don’t, no obligation to enter into commercial agreements with media organizations and independent arbitration. Treasury Josh Frydenberg and Mr. Zuckerberg continued their discussions through the weekend.

"There are two interpretations of Facebook pulling news out of News Feed in Australia,” wrote well-respected City University of New York journalism professor Jeff Jarvis on social media (February 19) “The positive one is that Facebook stood on principle, defended the net and refused to be blackmailed by Murdoch and his devil league. The cynical interpretation of Facebook pulling news from the service in Australia is that news is a pain in the ass and they'd be much happier returning to puppies, parties, and getting people laid: less cost of moderating, less bad PR, less lobbying. Time will tell."

See also...

• Hot Topics - Media in Australia

• Hot Topics - Social Media

• Hot Topics - News Corp / Rupert Murdoch

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