Facebookâs New Look in Australia: News and Hospitals Out, Aliens Still In
The social networkâs decision to block journalism rather than pay for it erased more than expected, leaving many outraged and debating what should happen next.
Facebook eliminated not just Australian news content, but also pages for government agencies, nonprofits and political candidates.Credit.Saeed Khan/Agence France-Presse Getty Images
Published Feb. 18, 2021Updated Feb. 22, 2021
SYDNEY, Australia â A digitally savvy nation woke up Thursday to a shock on Facebook: The news was gone.
The social media giant had decided to block journalism in Australia rather than pay the companies that produce it under legislation now before Parliament, angering a country of arguers who had grown used to Facebook as a regular forum for politics or culture.
Predictions Point to Bitcoin Could Quadruple In 2021 Similar to the 2017 Parabolic Rally
- Financialnewsmedia.com News Commentary
PALM BEACH, Fla., Feb. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ Bitcoin was created in 2009 as the first decentralized currency to run on Blockchain technology. It has become notorious for price swings that often make news headlines and grab the attention of financial traders. It has also led to the creation of other digital currency such as Ethereum, Ripple XRP and Litecoin. Bitcoin even has other cryptocurrencies that were created when nodes chose not to upgrade to the latest protocol, creating a new currency out of Bitcoin s old protocols, such as Bitcoin Cash ABC. Despite Bitcoin being well known amongst traders for its price swings, many believe that this leading digital currency is here to stay. While some experts in the field see problems ahead with Bitcoin, while others still see the future as rosy as its past performances… with even higher projections. One suc
Feb. 17, 2021
Credit.Damon Winter/The New York Times
A decade ago, the consensus was that the digital revolution would give effective voice to millions of previously unheard citizens. Now, in the aftermath of the Trump presidency, the consensus has shifted to anxiety that onlinebehemoths like Twitter, Google, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook have created a crisis of knowledge confounding what is true and what is untrue eroding the foundations of democracy.
These worries have intensified in response to the violence of Jan. 6, and the widespread acceptance among Republican voters of the conspicuously false claim that Democrats stole the election.
the widely shared utopian vision of the internet’s impact on governance has turned decidedly pessimistic. The original promise of digital technologies was unapologetically democratic: empowering the voiceless, breaking down borders to build cross-national communities, and eliminating elite referees who restricted political discourse.
The Internet Is Splintering
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Each country has its own car safety regulations and tax codes. But should every country also decide its own bounds for appropriate online expression?
If you have a quick answer, let me ask you to think again. We probably don’t want internet companies deciding on the freedoms of billions of people, but we may not want governments to have unquestioned authority, either.
Some Germans might agree with a law that prohibits online posts that their government views as hate speech. But what about the Germans who feel they’re shut down for expressing such views? And what should Facebook or Google do if an increasingly authoritarian government in Turkey uses similar rules to silence its citizens, or if Poland’s anti-censorship law lets politicians smear their constituents?