Be Careful What You Wish For

Ian Harvey/Principal Curator

When Twitter and Facebook censored then President Donald Trump and booted him and others off their platform many applauded.
“Private company, they can do what they want,” was the rallying cry and the applause rang out.
Whoops.

Now the shoe, is on the other foot and Facebook has booted Australian media off their platform.
“Censorship!!! ” is the new battle cry as Australian politicians and publishers alike rally the world to their cause.

Hey, you reap what you sow.
As I pointed out in a piece earlier this year this is a phony war and one the news media are destined to lose.

Facebook can do what it wants. It’s not a public agency, right? Why that was the position just a few months ago during the deplatforming of various groups designated “dangerous” because their politics were unacceptable.
Here’s a piece in the Sydney Morning Herald with all the appropriate bluster and blather of outrage.

Here’s the Australian Broadcasting Corporation winding itself up asking, is this the end of Facebook?

The Melbourne Herald Sun calls it an “act of war.”

I call it just desserts. A big fuck you from Mark Zuckerberg. It’s his platform, remember? Or have you forgotten your little dances when they banned those you didn’t like.

Hey. Be careful what you ask for. You might find it comes with a sting.

The good news is that we at Pitbullmedia.ca will continue to search out interesting and poignant stories and post them here with our value added commentary for you to agree or disagree with.

And that includes things banned by Facebook LOL.