Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Facebook in Australia: What happened after news was blocked?

Facebook in Australia: What happened after news was blocked?

Critics of Facebook say the company's ban on news appearing on its platform in Australia has made it more difficult for people to access reliable sources - and increased the influence of bad and misleading information.

But is there any evidence of this since the ban was imposed on Thursday?

Unintended consequences


It quickly became clear that one effect of the tech giant's move was that in addition to news providers, emergency services were also being blocked.

Some Australian government health-department and emergency-services pages found that their Facebook accounts had been affected.

They were later restored after Facebook was notified.


Welfare groups such as Women's Health Tasmania also faced difficulties.


"We stream physical activity classes through Facebook," says Jo Flanagan, the group's chief executive. "We push public-health-generated Covid updates.

"Clients use messages on Facebook to contact us when they don't have phone credit. It was very disruptive."

The page is now working again.

Will Easton, managing director of Facebook Australia, said: "Pages such as government, public-safety and education pages should not be impacted by this announcement.

"We apologise to any pages that were inadvertently impacted."

The day after the ban, we checked some of the pages that had faced problems, including a satirical-news site, a women's legal-services page, and a weather-forecasting platform. They had all been reactivated.

Facebook says it's working to restore other sites that have also been blocked inadvertently.

Has bad information increased?


We can't give a definitive answer to this for all Facebook users in Australia.

But we've done some digging with data-analysis tool CrowdTangle, itself part of the Facebook family of online products.

Using CrowdTangle, it's possible to look at the most popular Facebook posts related to a particular topic over a given time in a given country - it therefore gives you a pretty good idea what's been shared on that subject.

In one example, we looked at Facebook posts from pages in Australia related to Covid-19 and vaccines over two 24-hour periods - before and after the ban was imposed.

We found:

*  In four separate searches before the ban, the overwhelming majority of the top 20 performing posts and links came from verified pages of well-known media organisations, government and public-health bodies - only one or two posts with potentially misleading content.

*  After the ban, the same searches revealed up to five posts containing misleading content about Covid-19 or vaccines

*  After the ban, a search for posts with links to external websites led us to content from alternative- or holistic-medicine pages, some expressing anti-vaccine views. These pages weren't classified as "news", and following the ban they could still be accessed via Facebook.

Links to some websites promoting inaccurate claims about the pandemic still work in Australia ("False" label added to image for clarification)

Facebook has responded to its critics by saying its commitment to combating misinformation has not changed.

"We are directing people to authoritative health information and notify them of new updates via our Covid-19 Information Centre," it says.

"We're also continuing our third-party fact-checking partnerships with AAP (Australian Associated Press) and AFP (Agence France-Press), who review content and debunk false claims online."

However, Peter Bodkin, editor of the AAP fact-checking team, says his news organisation's content is being restricted. The AAP can still rate and label posts on Facebook and tack on links to reliable AAP stories, but users cannot share the site's articles themselves.

"It seems like a terrible outcome, to state the obvious," he says.


Fact-checking sites are, of course, accessible without any need to go through Facebook.

However, Russell Skelton, of ABC's (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) fact-checking project with RMIT University, points out that the ban affects precisely the audience that fact-checkers want to reach.

"Some 11 million-plus Australians use Facebook as their primary source of news," he says.

"Facebook's action has certainly prevented us from engaging with a more diverse audience who do not come to the ABC news website for their information."


AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
Intel Reports Revenue Beats but Sees 81% Rise in Losses
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
×