‘As Arrogant as They Were Disappointing’
The worst harm Facebook’s ban has caused is to prevent government agencies such as fire departments from sharing fire warnings and health departments from sharing important information related to COVID-19. This goes to show Facebook is so obsessed with getting its way that it is willing to endanger public health and safety in the middle of a global pandemic.
In a
statement posted on Facebook (ironically), Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Facebook’s actions to “unfriend Australia” were “ as arrogant as they were disappointing.” Facebook finally restored its news pages in the country, after putting Australia through a five-day ban, and got the government to
change the proposed legislation, including demanding “an additional round of negotiation with media companies before binding arbitration kicks in.”
Unfortunately, what happened in Australia isn’t the first time that Facebook has shown us that its enormous power could be a destructive force in a democracy. Last October, Facebook intentionally
limited the distribution of The New York Post’s story on Hunter Biden’s questionable financial dealings in Ukraine and China. Many regarded Facebook’s suppression of important news related to a family member of the Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden as a form of election interference.
Facebook insisted it did so to prevent the spread of “misinformation,” but after the November election, Hunter Biden himself
confirmed that he was under federal investigation for his financial dealings in Ukraine and China. This proved The New York Post’s story was not “misinformation,” but many American voters were prevented from knowing about it because of Facebook’s interference.
It seems now the only way we can escape Facebook's control and reject its power over us and our society is to expunge it from our lives.
thefederalist.com