@katieharbath Katie - many thanks for all your hard work in our short time working together. Best of luck - can't wait to see what's next!
The internet needs new rules that work for everyone, not just for big media corporations. By updating internet regulation, we can preserve what’s best about it — the freedom of people to express themselves and entrepreneurs to build new things. https://t.co/5QR4FipgpF
The internet needs new rules that work for everyone, not just for big media corporations. By updating internet regulation, we can preserve what’s best about it — the freedom of people to express themselves and entrepreneurs to build new things. https://t.co/A5An9caQ70
There are legitimate concerns about the size/power of tech & serious issues about the disruption it has caused to the news industry. But a new settlement must be based on the facts of how value is derived from news online, not an upside-down portrayal of how news flows online.
Facebook absolutely recognizes quality journalism is at the heart of how open societies function—informing and empowering citizens & holding the powerful to account. That’s why we’ve invested $600M to support the news industry, & plan at least $1B more over the next three years.
The events in Australia show the danger of camouflaging a bid for cash subsidies behind distortions about how the internet works. In order to comply, Facebook had 2 options: provide open ended subsidies to multinational media conglomerates or remove news from FB in Australia.
That’s what the Australian law, as it was proposed, would have done. It’s like forcing car makers to fund radio stations because people might listen to them in the car — and letting the stations set the price.
Yes, the internet has been disruptive for the news industry. It is understandable that some media conglomerates see Facebook as a potential source of money to make up for their losses, but does that mean they should be able to demand a blank check?
Publishers themselves share their stories on social media, or make them available to be shared by others, because they get value from it. Last year, Facebook generated approximately 5.1B free referrals to Australian publishers worth an estimated AU$407M to the news industry.
Last week’s move by Facebook to stop sharing news in Australia left many people rightly asking: what on Earth was all that about? At the heart of it is a fundamental misunderstanding of the relationship between Facebook and news publishers. ? https://t.co/A5An9caQ70