Media executive warns of Meta decision’s ‘devastating impact’ on Aussies

The digital revolution has brought an era where news is not just consumed at the breakfast table or on the evening couch but scrolled through on smartphones and shared via social media platforms.

One of these platforms, Facebook, owned by the company Meta, has become a hub for accessing news content.

However, a media giant executive said a recent bombshell decision by Meta threatens to upend the fabric of Australia's news landscape.



Meta, the company behind social networking giant Facebook, announced that it will discontinue its commercial agreements with Australian media companies.

According to Michael Miller, Executive Chairman of News Corp Australia, this will likely lead to a substantial cutback on the breadth and depth of news accessible to Australians on the platform.


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Meta announced that it will not renew commercial agreements with Australian media. Credit: Shutterstock


The financial implications are stark. Miller said the estimated that Meta was paying Australian media $250 million annually—a figure that represents a lifeline for many publications.

He said these funds have enabled the sustenance of rural and regional reporting hubs, ensuring that smaller communities stay connected and informed about local developments, issues, and governance.

Without this funding, there is the grim prospect of job losses, newspaper closures, and a troubling void in local news coverage.

‘The Australian government must protect these smaller communities who will be the real victims of Meta’s decision to not compensate publications for the local news they produce,’ Miller said.

‘Meta’s move will significantly affect our business,’ said Managing Director Tony Kendall of Australian Community Media, Australia’s largest publisher of rural and regional titles.

‘It will also, sadly, fuel the explosion of fake news and other junk proliferating on social media.’



Moreover, Meta's move underscores a broader tension between expansive tech firms and national jurisdictions.

In 2021, the Australian government took a firm stance with the News Media Bargaining Code, encouraging digital platforms to voluntarily negotiate a ‘fair price to pay to publish the news of an Australian news business and/or corporation’.

‘Without the payments by Facebook to publishers for using their journalism, the industry would have had no choice but to cut back on its resourcing and coverage of many local events,’ Miller said.

‘And don’t be fooled by the claims of Meta, its parent company, that few Australians are accessing news on their Facebook platform. Meta is just gilding the lily—and knows it.’


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Meta’s move will affect several businesses and the proliferation of fake news. Credit: Shutterstock


Miller debunked one of Meta’s frequent claims about the value of news.

‘Meta says only three per cent of its feed is comprised of news article links,’ he said.

‘But this dramatically understates the role of news on Facebook as it ignores images, videos and other forms of news content.’

‘Even if you accept the three per cent as fact, Meta’s market value is over $1.9 trillion dollars. Three per cent of $1.9 trillion is $57 billion, meaning the news industry, even with Meta’s understated figures, creates huge value for Meta’s enormous profit coffers,’ he added.

Miller stressed that Meta’s announcement showed a ‘total disregard for Australian law and the comprehensive work done by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)’.

‘It shows how little it cares about Australia, the Australian people, and its customers, the very people who use Facebook on a daily basis,’ he said.




Communications Minister Michelle Rowland and Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones (who oversees The News Media Bargaining Code) said in their joint statement: ‘Meta’s decision to no longer pay for news content in a number of jurisdictions represents a dereliction of its commitment to the sustainability of Australian news media.’

‘The Australian government is committed to The News Media Bargaining Code and is seeking advice from Treasury and the ACCC on next steps.’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese supported Australian media, saying, ‘We will always stand up as a government for Australian media interest and media diversity.’



Meta is no stranger to controversy.

In 2022, it agreed to pay a total of $1.1 billion to Facebook users after it reportedly let third parties access not only users’ data but also their friends’ data.

What led to the massive payout? Read more about it here.
Key Takeaways

  • Meta's decision not to renew commercial agreements with Australian media could have severe consequences for Australians' access to trusted news, according to News Corp Australia Executive Chairman Michael Miller.
  • Miller said lack of compensation from Meta to publishers for their content may lead to job losses, closures of titles, and a decrease in local news quality, particularly affecting rural and regional communities.
  • The News Media Bargaining Code established by the Australian government aims to ensure digital platforms fairly compensate media companies for their content.
  • The Australian government, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, expressed strong support for media diversity and is considering how to respond to Meta's actions, reflecting their commitment to the sustainability of the Australian news industry.
Do you use Facebook to check news updates? What are your thoughts on this development? Let us know in the comments below!
 
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Watch all or most TV BS of propoganda still pushing Covid vax and thensaving it was not mandated most of the RATS have jumped already Courts saying mandates are and were illegal.Jumping will not save them nor will the so called vaccine .Nuremberg Code 1947 still applies .Look it up people were not informed before making a decision on an EXPERIMENTAL MEDICAL TREATMENT.Most drugs take 5 years mot 6 months.Media will not cover this hardly the ABC is one of the worst in Australia .
 
It’s only a bombshell to those whose wages depend on it. Even the news on television is mostly sourced from social media. There are no reporters that give fact and what they teach in media school even to reporters is make it entertaining.
 
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Reactions: siameezer
Facebook????? Ha!

"Imagine a world where your smartphone can detect your mood just by the way you type a message or the tone of your voice. Picture a car that adjusts its music playlist based on your stress levels during rush hour traffic. These scenarios are not just futuristic fantasies. They are glimpses into the rapidly evolving field of affective computing."
'
"Affective computing, a field that combines technology with the nuanced understanding of human emotions, is experiencing surges in innovation and related ethical considerations. Innovations identified in the review include emotion-generation techniques that enhance the naturalness of human-computer interactions by increasing the realism of the facial expressions and body movements of avatars and robots.

The development of fine-grained sentiment classification models is also advancing, allowing for a better understanding of the mixed emotions that occur in everyday life. Cognitive neuroscience is providing valuable insight into the neural basis of emotions, which is crucial for designing systems that can authentically simulate emotional responses.

Meanwhile, the field is reportedly expanding its focus from individual to group-level emotions, recognizing the importance of collective affect in consumer behavior and settings such as workplaces. In addition, researchers are addressing the challenge of cultural diversity by developing models that can adapt to various emotional expressions across different cultures. Such research involves addressing ethical and privacy concerns and advocating the establishment of international standards to govern the use of emotional data."

Parts of a short article in SciTech Daily explaining how Chinese scientists are developing modern computing. Reference: “Affective Computing: Recent Advances, Challenges, and Future Trends” by Guanxiong Pei, Haiying Li, Yandi Lu, Yanlei Wang, Shizhen Hua and Taihao Li, 5 January 2024, Intelligent Computing.
DOI: 10.34133/icomputing.0076
 
There are lots,of other ways to get news, especially news not corrupted by Meta.
Try reading a news paper. TheAdvertiser/Sunday mail do both papers and digital mail. They also send updates via email during the day. Then there is the radio news with hourly updates on main items and nightly TV news broadcasts also often repeated. If you have cable or satellite channels there is Sky News which tends to be less woke and more like the truth. We do not need to live in a world where we are attached to a phone/Pad/computer to get news. Nor do we need to panic because Meta has become even more greedy (if that is possible!). When people stop using Facebook as their be all and end, all for news which is often tainted, Meta will start losing a lot of money as people no longer bother with other parts of Facebook and the advertising revenue will drop. So just go back a little bit to using one of the many other ways of getting news and let Meta dig its own grave!
 
  • Haha
Reactions: siameezer
Facebook????? Ha!

"Imagine a world where your smartphone can detect your mood just by the way you type a message or the tone of your voice. Picture a car that adjusts its music playlist based on your stress levels during rush hour traffic. These scenarios are not just futuristic fantasies. They are glimpses into the rapidly evolving field of affective computing."
'
"Affective computing, a field that combines technology with the nuanced understanding of human emotions, is experiencing surges in innovation and related ethical considerations. Innovations identified in the review include emotion-generation techniques that enhance the naturalness of human-computer interactions by increasing the realism of the facial expressions and body movements of avatars and robots.

The development of fine-grained sentiment classification models is also advancing, allowing for a better understanding of the mixed emotions that occur in everyday life. Cognitive neuroscience is providing valuable insight into the neural basis of emotions, which is crucial for designing systems that can authentically simulate emotional responses.

Meanwhile, the field is reportedly expanding its focus from individual to group-level emotions, recognizing the importance of collective affect in consumer behavior and settings such as workplaces. In addition, researchers are addressing the challenge of cultural diversity by developing models that can adapt to various emotional expressions across different cultures. Such research involves addressing ethical and privacy concerns and advocating the establishment of international standards to govern the use of emotional data."

Parts of a short article in SciTech Daily explaining how Chinese scientists are developing modern computing. Reference: “Affective Computing: Recent Advances, Challenges, and Future Trends” by Guanxiong Pei, Haiying Li, Yandi Lu, Yanlei Wang, Shizhen Hua and Taihao Li, 5 January 2024, Intelligent Computing.
DOI: 10.34133/icomputing.0076
It’s an absolute disgrace that this is allowed! It is a total invasive of privacy and apart from knowing if a car driver is falling asleep is totally unnecessary and unacceptable!
 
Facebook????? Ha!

"Imagine a world where your smartphone can detect your mood just by the way you type a message or the tone of your voice. Picture a car that adjusts its music playlist based on your stress levels during rush hour traffic. These scenarios are not just futuristic fantasies. They are glimpses into the rapidly evolving field of affective computing."
'
"Affective computing, a field that combines technology with the nuanced understanding of human emotions, is experiencing surges in innovation and related ethical considerations. Innovations identified in the review include emotion-generation techniques that enhance the naturalness of human-computer interactions by increasing the realism of the facial expressions and body movements of avatars and robots.

The development of fine-grained sentiment classification models is also advancing, allowing for a better understanding of the mixed emotions that occur in everyday life. Cognitive neuroscience is providing valuable insight into the neural basis of emotions, which is crucial for designing systems that can authentically simulate emotional responses.

Meanwhile, the field is reportedly expanding its focus from individual to group-level emotions, recognizing the importance of collective affect in consumer behavior and settings such as workplaces. In addition, researchers are addressing the challenge of cultural diversity by developing models that can adapt to various emotional expressions across different cultures. Such research involves addressing ethical and privacy concerns and advocating the establishment of international standards to govern the use of emotional data."

Parts of a short article in SciTech Daily explaining how Chinese scientists are developing modern computing. Reference: “Affective Computing: Recent Advances, Challenges, and Future Trends” by Guanxiong Pei, Haiying Li, Yandi Lu, Yanlei Wang, Shizhen Hua and Taihao Li, 5 January 2024, Intelligent Computing.
DOI: 10.34133/icomputing.0076
Did you find that on Facebook😂
 
Firstly News is very rarely that New but in Meta's move to force it's will on us we actually have the power if every Australian refused to purchase any products or services added on this platform then their advertising dollars wouls die and they would no longer have a product and as the majority of the adverts are from dubious businesses that would reduce fraud. The world survived before Meta and it will survive after Meta which had it's genisis as a service?
 
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Reactions: mylittletibbies
What a literal crock of s#!t, anyone that gets their 'news' from ANY social media site is not getting anything other than an opinion. Not any different to those that watch Skynews (or most commercial) TV news. They all have too great a vested interest in providing actual news, but their one side view of events.
 
Have never used Facebook and never will. Get news from the radio in the morning and tv at night
 
Meta ha scammers selling goods. I already check for the same items on eBay and Temu and find the same at cheaper prices. So never buy from Facebook
 
I joined it once to a young Polish woman in 2008 and have trying to get rid of it ever since.
Once you have fb you can't close it. I was on fb for years and when I had enough I found out you can't close it so I went in and deleted everything and changed my profile name. I even opened a new email address and added that so I wouldn't receive 100s of fb emails
 
Once you have fb you can't close it. I was on fb for years and when I had enough I found out you can't close it so I went in and deleted everything and changed my profile name. I even opened a new email address and added that so I wouldn't receive 100s of fb emails
Pretty sure you can archive it.
 
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Reactions: deni67
Never believe anything that either Facebook or anyone connected to that Murdock conglomerate try to tell you. Most of the so called news on Fb is from bloggers anyway and we all know how realistic' accurate and knowledgeable their points of view are
 
I manage my ad content quite successfully & like fb a lot, keeping up with lots of friends overseas und in Australia.
only have good & decent friends so what’s shared is valuable info but I’m disgusted with a company who is this obscenely rich to have this sort of issue!
 

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