It’s time to unfriend Facebook when it resorts to starving us of news

Wish everyone a happy birthday or congrats on some event. I also belong to a neighborhood watch group, that highlights missing pets, maybe a stolen bicycle, and even city council goings or sometimes shenanigans.

 

I see. Land lines are obsolete. I guess I need to stop using them.

 

Never said they were. I will say the use of twisted pair phone lines are just about obsolete. Land lines, or tethered phone systems use VOIP technology to establish connection service.

 

Its a shame that facebook turned into a political organization but it is what it is. THEY do have the right to censor whatever they want on their platform. Its disgusting and super shady and has been a great secret weapon of the left, and it sucks, but if we just look at facts, I'm pretty sure facebook DOES have this right. I don't like it either but it is what it is.

 

If I want to find people I avail myself of the phone book. If they have moved on or changed their name w/o my knowledge I assume there is a good reason for that. It used to be offensive, even creepy, to have people skip trace you years later but FB regards it as a benefit we all want so we forcibly tolerate it.

 

Hating Facebook and Zuckerberg (or pretending to for money) seems to be fashionable at the moment but that doesn't mean the haters are right.

At it's core, this dispute isn't about news links on Facebook (or anywhere else), it's about the fact a small number of organisations suck up the majority of on-line advertising. Traditional media, who have long been running at a loss with physical media, have increasingly moved online but have realised the don't dominate the adverting market in the same way they did for print media, and so still struggle to make money from advertising alone (this is why a number of news sites have gone to subscription). This is a real problem and it'd be perfectly legitimate to try to find ways to improve it.

The Australian legislation was a very heavy-handed and ill-considered approach though, essentially a manufactured system to try to extract money from the big internet companies to the Australian mainstream media industry. Facebook have decided to fight back against that and taken the line that if the Australian government is going to demand payment for any Australian news link posted on their site, they would prevent those links being posted (though it seems they rushed the process and made a bit of a mess of it initially). That seems perfectly logical on the purported basis of the legislation, it just doesn't fit the underlying intentions of it.

 

I get my news by reading newspapers, magazines, and books. I also follow AP and Reuters.
Except for that, I regard the Internet as entertainment and distraction. That includes this.

Zuckerberg made most of his money when people used FB to photograph their lunch. It is the very definition of gossip, utterly unverified and politics should be legally forbidden on it.

 

That's fine, but I enjoy reconnecting to old friends.

 

I use both land line and VOIP - Land line for business because it is reiliable. VOIP for home because it is cheap. I speak with my sisters every week by telephone. No facebook required. No emojis necessary either.

 

And they no doubt enjoy hearing from you. I don't

 

Bwahahaha.... is that a feature or a problem?

 

You are you of the few that still use twisted pair. Again FB is to get in touch with old friends. It has a messenger service, and a way to leave some form of communique. Not everyone is always available due to their commitments and responsibilities in their lives to be able to answer any or all person to person phone calls.

 

Sorry to hear that.

 

I'm sick of all the clickbait and targeted ads ...

I already bought a Jeep Facebook ... I'm surprised you didn't know that already seeing that you know everything that I Google ...

 

Amen to all of that. I am the same except that I make my living on the internet as well as entertain myself with it. I've been doing e-commerce for the past 23 years. That is why I am usually at a computer.

 

We can only hope.

 

Facebook and Big Tech like them have put Small Newspapers and other smaller media already out of business. These sources get no $ for their content, but Big Tech reaps the benefits by freely sharing it. Soon the Medium sized news sources will go. Finally, the big "News Sources"... will just be more of the propaganda we are used to as they will only let information be shared they want. I expect Australia to fold, but we'll see. I have some solid Aussie friends, however the government is a different thing.

 

I deleted my FB long ago. They should have to report 100% of their income as a political contribution since they use their reach to place their thump on the political scale.

 

Facebook? Really? I offloaded Facebook over ten years ago after having an account there for only a few months. Who with any common sense at all uses a thing like 'Facebook'...? Isn't there already an ABUNDANCE of moronic stupidity in the world already?

 

THE DANGER OF MONOPOLY POWER:

​

Related: Blowback: Canada to follow Australia’s lead in charging Facebook for links.

Like Lying Outlaw China, Facebook appears to not understand the power of international alliances that the Western World has proven can be deployed in an absolutely devastating manner.

Background: Facebook may regret blacking out news in Australia.

"People start to notice monopoly power when you throw your weight around too obviously. Amazon used to refrain from that. So did Facebook."

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/433908/

 

Facebook is a social network not a news organization. I don't care if it doesn't give me any news.

 

You get your news from Facebook? LOL!

 

Personally, I only use FB for family, friends, and certain charities. I don't look at it for news. I simply skip over news items.

I would think that if you can connect to FB, you can connect to news sites for news. If FB ended all news, I wouldn't even notice.

 

EGAD!!! Are you trying to end up with a president like trump?

Facebook and Twitter played a very large role in destroying the US. With FB and Twitter in the mix, democracy fails.

 

Where did I say I did? Fact is.....I don't.