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The Internet Reacts to the Facebook News Ban in Australia

Lauren Rouse Avatar
Lauren Rouse
The Internet Reacts to the Facebook News Ban in Australia

Facebook’s restriction of news content has, understandably, caused quite a stir on social media today.

This change means Australian news publishers will no longer be able to post content on Facebook. Australian Facebook users will also no longer see local or international news stories on their feeds.

Thank god we still have other social media sites, right? If you’ve been away from the internet, here’s how everyone reacted.

The internet reacts to Facebook Ban

Since the news of Facebook’s ban broke this morning hashtags such as #deletefacebook and #FacebookWeNeedToTalk have trended across the internet. Plenty of people are not happy with this new and unexpected change.

For starters, in what seems like a huge mistake, news companies aren’t the only ones who have been blocked from posting on Facebook.

That includes Facebook’s own page. Somebody really pressed the wrong red button over there.

Don’t worry though, anti-vax pages and other misinformation pages are all still going!

On that note, I’m sure you’re wondering how old mate Craig Kelly is doing throughout this ordeal. The news ban hasn’t affected him, but he still managed to get suspended by Facebook all on his own.

Speaking of misinformation, is Pete Evans to blame for this? No, but how’s that for a coincidence.

Valid points have been made about how quickly Facebook has acted in this circumstance but how slow the company has reacted to other more pressing concerns.

Naturally, some people also had thoughts about Facebook overlord Mark Zuckerberg.

The Facebook ban has come as a result of the Australian government’s proposed media bargaining code. Despite Josh Frydenberg claiming he was still in negotiations with Mark Zuckerberg only yesterday, today’s Facebook ban suggest otherwise. The Australian government has some questions.

Lastly, a reaction post wouldn’t be complete without the memes, aka what the internet does best. Here are some off the back of today’s news.

If you’re going to miss seeing Facebook on your newsfeed, the Chaser interns have poured one out.

It’s unknown how this Facebook ban will develop going forward. Will Facebook switch news back on for Australia? Is anyone on Facebook even reading this right now?

In the meantime, please make sure to find other ways to keep up with emergency news, government organisations and your favourite news sites.

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