Agencies-Gaza post
Facebook bans health pages in Australia.. What’s the story?
A whistleblowing group accused Facebook of deliberately blocking pages belonging to Australian hospitals and emergency services, as part of a negotiating plan drawn up last year.
The social network “Meta” has worked to weaken a law demanding it to pay for news pages in Australia after it banned this type of content on its platform in February 2021.
Facebook’s algorithm blocked other pages, which the company confirmed happened coincidentally, it told AFP on Friday that “any suggestion that the pages were deliberately banned is categorically and manifestly incorrect.”
A spokesman for Meta said, “We intended to exclude the Australian Government’s pages from restrictions, in an attempt to limit the impact of misleading and harmful law.”
“When we were unable to implement this procedure properly due to a technical error, we apologized and worked to correct it.”
Despite the company’s explanation, US-based organization Whistleblower Aid saw Meta’s move as a record trick with the US Department of Justice and the Australian Competition and Consumption Commission, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The organization said in a press statement that Facebook’s five-day blocking of pages posting news content had deliberately “blocked” pages belonging to local governments, health services, and other sites providing support to vulnerable people.
Facebook’s intention was to force the government to repeal the law.
“What happened is not only an example of careless action by an actor, but Facebook deliberately endangered lives in order to protect its profits.”
Shortly after the ban, Australia passed a law forcing Facebook to negotiate with pages posting news content, but political officials mitigated some of the harsher proposals.
Source: HERE
