23/8/23 Action of Protest

[ninj]

It's hard to imagine that anyone hasn't heard by now. Meta has been flexing it muscles to pull news content from their platforms for Canadian users. Despite all the reassurances that news is always available outside, you can no longer post/share news on Facebook and Instagram. That has a real impact on anyone who routinely shares and discusses news.
Besides, what kind of heartless dick does this in the midst of a fire catastrophe?

https://cbc.radio-canada.ca/en/media-centre/blocking-of-news-content-on-facebook-and-instagram-canada

Is anyone participating in the two-day boycott? I am, despite the temptation of checking in.

 

[Mendalla]

Is anyone participating in the two-day boycott?

I've been boycotting Meta's properties for a few years now. Nothing to do with this of course. More to do with their general attitude that all our data is theirs to make money off of. Zuckerberg is particularly tone-deaf about privacy, protesting when Apple tightened up privacy controls on iDevices, but his board and executive team in general seem quite openly hostile to any kind of right to privacy for their users. Is it a pain to not be on there? At times. But I am not enamoured of the platform anyhow and find forum-type platforms more to my liking in any case.

 

[Waterfall]

I thought the Canadian government shut them down in Canada first, and now their begging Meta to use theyre platform for the wildfires?
I'd rather use a more reliable source for wildfire news personally.

 

[Mendalla]

I thought the Canadian government shut them down in Canada first, and now their begging Meta to use theyre platform for the wildfires?
I'd rather use a more reliable source for wildfire news personally.

Nope, Meta pulled the plug because they don't want to play by the new rules set down in Bill C-18, which require them to have agreements in place with the Canadian media and to pay for the use of their material. MSN and Google are negotiating but for some stupid reason, Meta is playing hardball even though they did eventually settle with Australia under similar circumstances. Canadian media are producing the content and are entitled to be paid. Meta are quite simply being asshats about this. Which is, to be honest, par for the course for them.

 

[Luce NDs]

As usual in private business powers ... the populace is nothing but chit ... broken folk ... mainly because of the consequence of foul powers ... otherwise labelled corrupt!

Alas private business does not know this because of closed circles ... they do not absorb well!

 

[Waterfall]

Nope, Meta pulled the plug because they don't want to play by the new rules set down in Bill C-18, which require them to have agreements in place with the Canadian media and to pay for the use of their material. MSN and Google are negotiating but for some stupid reason, Meta is playing hardball even though they did eventually settle with Australia under similar circumstances. Canadian media are producing the content and are entitled to be paid. Meta are quite simply being asshats about this. Which is, to be honest, par for the course for them.

So are they still reporting about the Canadian fires...who is their source now?

 

[Mendalla]

So are they still reporting about the Canadian fires...who is their source now?

Ask someone who is on there. Assuming they are sticking to their boycott of Canadian news, they would presumably be picking up stories from US media. The story has certainly been showing up in places like CNN and even UK sources like The Guardian in my news feeds so there's plenty of coverage that would not fall under C-18.

 

[Northwind]

Thanks for the explanation about the bill @Mendalla. It helps. I'll be doing more research

I'm participating in the 48 hour boycott for what it's worth. I'm very concerned about how this will impact local news in particular. I have used local news pages on FB for local news. The chatter on the comments sections gives extra information, both good and bad.

 

[ChemGal]

I think when it comes to the fires too many people are just like oh it's the big bad facebook (and Meta in general).
Things could have been adjusted for emergency situations like this by Trudeau/Canadian government. Meta isn't the most ethical business, and I do understand the issue with ad revenue and media getting their fair share. Trudeau took advantage of the wildfires though to gain support and was a bit sleazy IMO.

News can be discussed and shared still by individuals and non-news organizations. So governments, police, schools, etc. With the lockdown at WEM police updates were made both on their page, which showed in my newfeed and stories as well as in reels. I cannot share a link from a Canadian news site, I can discuss it there, I can share a screenshot, I can cite something without using a link, etc.
Meta isn't really too sure how things work though, listening to journalists they have been told very inconsistent things for most Canadian news organizations have now lost the ability to post with limitations, which some where told they could still do. I don't think Meta has entirely figured that out.

When it comes to wildfire news though - should Meta really have to be paying to allow news links to go up? In that case I do think Meta is offering a free service.

In terms of the bill overall, I'm more concerned about Alphabet, I think that will have a bigger impact than Meta.

The Canadian Content changes are also concerning, but at this point I think it's still being worked out? I haven't heard anything too recently about that, might be worth a separate discussion even though related.

 

[Mendalla]

The Canadian Content changes are also concerning, but at this point I think it's still being worked out?

I think that's in another bill but, yes, I am worried. I am not a fan of Cancon rules in general and good Canadian content shouldn't need help from the government. Just look at the success of Schitt's Creek which was huge on streaming and even racked up Emmy nominations once it got into the US. When people complain about the "nanny state", this is exactly what they have in mind. All this kind of thing is going to do is boost the use of proxies and VPNs, probably with the tacit blessing of the American streaming services.

In terms of the bill overall, I'm more concerned about Alphabet, I think that will have a bigger impact than Meta.

But Google looks like they are going to play nice instead of throwing a tantrum like a spoiled child, and I think that will work in their favour. Zuckerberg is an entitled little twit who really only made one important contribution by getting FB up and running the first place. I feel much the same about his apparent worst enemy Elon Musk, who I give credit for Tesla and SpaceX but otherwise find quite intolerable. Whereas Sundar Pichai at Alphabet comes across as a fairly thoughtful, level-headed businessman much like his countryman Satye Nadella at Microsoft.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

I think Meta are asshats regardless, always were - I boycotted Facebook a week after I joined it about 15 yrs ago because I knew it was an evil gossipy brain drain - AND Trudeau was snivelly for using the wildfires as his argument. This fight preceded the fires.

 

[Waterfall]

I think Meta are asshats regardless, always were - I boycotted Facebook a week after I joined it about 15 yrs ago because I knew it was an evil gossipy brain drain - AND Trudeau was snivelly for using the wildfires as his argument. This fight preceded the fires.

Although, damned if he does and damned if he didn't.

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

Although, damned if he does and damned if he didn't.

Nah, he could’ve asked them to allow it without making hay over it.

 

[Waterfall]

Nah, he could’ve asked them to allow it without making hay over it.

But I heard British Columbians screaming about it too, so maybe he listened?

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

(Full disclosure. Since refusing to join the mothership of gossipy brain drains, I did join others, like Twitter. Though these days I don’t use it.)

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

But I heard British Columbians screaming about it too, so maybe he listened?

I haven’t followed much of the Facebook thing to be honest. I haven’t been on Facebook in 15 years and I can manage to look up news or go directly to the news sites to find out so I don’t see what the panic is. Even if on Facebook - somebody could always say “look at the report about the fires in xyz area on CBC’s page this morning.” And all it takes is a couple more clicks to get there. There are dozens of ways to find the info without Facebook, honestly. And if people getting frustrated with Facebook makes room for better, less greedy, platforms than Facebook - good!

 

[Kimmio Laughterlove]

Nope, Meta pulled the plug because they don't want to play by the new rules set down in Bill C-18, which require them to have agreements in place with the Canadian media and to pay for the use of their material. MSN and Google are negotiating but for some stupid reason, Meta is playing hardball even though they did eventually settle with Australia under similar circumstances. Canadian media are producing the content and are entitled to be paid. Meta are quite simply being asshats about this. Which is, to be honest, par for the course for them.

Canada is being subsumed into irrelevancy by the US. This is a way to do it without going to war. Trudeau’s star has fallen with American Dems too because of some of his international f*** ups (or those that occurred on his watch) that leave North America more vulnerable - after being already demonized by the right wing MAGA set. I don’t think he has much leverage anymore.

 

[ChemGal]

I think that's in another bill but, yes, I am worried. I am not a fan of Cancon rules in general and good Canadian content shouldn't need help from the government. Just look at the success of Schitt's Creek which was huge on streaming and even racked up Emmy nominations once it got into the US. When people complain about the "nanny state", this is exactly what they have in mind. All this kind of thing is going to do is boost the use of proxies and VPNs, probably with the tacit blessing of the American streaming services.

But Google looks like they are going to play nice instead of throwing a tantrum like a spoiled child, and I think that will work in their favour. Zuckerberg is an entitled little twit who really only made one important contribution by getting FB up and running the first place. I feel much the same about his apparent worst enemy Elon Musk, who I give credit for Tesla and SpaceX but otherwise find quite intolerable. Whereas Sundar Pichai at Alphabet comes across as a fairly thoughtful, level-headed businessman much like his countryman Satye Nadella at Microsoft.

I agree with you on how Meta is handling this overall. Will have to see what Google does. Google and Facebook both experimented with blocking Canadian news, Meta was just the one to push through with it beyond experimenting with a portion of users.
In terms of the wildfires specifically though, I'm not on the side of having Meta pay for sharing that information (or other situations in the future) and ideally the most up to date information shouldn't be primarily coming from news anyway, news media should be a secondary source.

 

[BetteTheRed]

ideally the most up to date information shouldn't be primarily coming from news anyway, news media should be a secondary source.

Do not understand this statement? From what other "news media" should we get "news"? Surely, not from the "state"?

 

[ChemGal]

Do not understand this statement? From what other "news media" should we get "news"? Surely, not from the "state"?

When it comes to things like what area needs to evacuate or if there's a lockdown? Government, police, etc. That's where news media gets their information from.

To be clear, I'm not saying media organizations shouldn't be sharing this information. They should as well, as getting the word out in multiple places is useful. We should also expect good communication from governments, police, etc. with important information.