April 5, 2024
ABC-TV dropped into the southburnett.com.au office in Kingaroy on Friday to shoot video for a possible story about a mooted Facebook ban on news.
Meta informed some publishers recently it would “deprecate” news on the platforms from early April, leading to fears that news pages on Facebook – such as southburnett.com.au – could again be blacked out, something which occurred for almost a week in February 2021.
The Local and Independent News Association (LINA), an industry association which represents independent publishers, has been lobbying for small publishers to receive support should Meta again block them from Facebook and Instagram.
LINA executive director Claire Stuchbery said a blackout could not only affect the financial survival of small newsrooms, but also the overall health and functioning of Australian democracy.
Meta imposed a similar ban on news in Canada nine months ago, leading to what local journalists there have labelled as a toxic proliferation of misleading, viral clickbait.
One small Canadian publisher estimated it had lost 43 per cent of its traffic after the ban came into effect.
- Related article: Support Urged For Small Publishers
[Disclosure: South Burnett Online is a foundation member of LINA]
