Facebook

Whistleblower Frances Haugen has called out Facebook and its sister site Instagram for exacerbating body image and mental health issues in teenage girls, writes Janet Parker.

Facebook's “Zucker” punch successfully forced the federal government's hand. It is another reason why we need to fight for real public interest journalism, argues Zebedee Parkes.

Independent journalism has never been more important to democracy. Thankfully, Walkley Award-winning journalist Michael West is surprisingly optimistic about the future of independent media.

A showdown is looming in Australia between corporate media giants, with the federal government keen to appear as if it is taking a stand for media diversity. Jacob Andrewartha and Viv Miley explain.

From taxing tech firms to pay the license fee to creating a new British Digital Corporation (BDC), the Alternative MacTaggart Lecture by British Labour’s socialist leader Jeremy Corbyn  in August  unveiled an array of potential new Labour  digital policies, writes Nick Webb.

These proposals are not yet official party policy, but they give a good sense of where Labour’s leadership is headed as it develops its offering ahead of a potential Brexit-related snap election.

Venezuelanlaysis.com has been a widely acclaimed source of news and analysis of Venezuelan politics since 2003. It provides a critical look at the nation’s pro-poor Bolivarian Revolution and the mainstream media’s often highly distorted reporting of it. The site’s collective released slightly abridged the statement below about the temporary suspension of its Facebook page on August 16.

***

For the second time this year, Facebook suspended TeleSUR English’s page on August 13, Common Dreams said the next day.

After supports of the left-wing Latin American site campaigned against the removal, Facebook restored it on August 15, TeleSUR English said that day.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal has put data harvesting in the spotlight, but Tom Walker writes that the problem goes far beyond Facebook.

Dozens of Palestinian journalists protested social media giant Facebook on March 5, criticising its routine blocking of accounts from the Middle Eastern country.

In Melton, an outer-western suburb of Melbourne, Shane Gillard, a man with links to the far-right group Soldiers of Odin, used Facebook to blame “Sudanese thugs” for a carjacking on February 9.

However, as police reports of the incident surfaced, the truth emerged: no Sudanese immigrants were involved, but two men had a violent altercation in a carpark before the offender, “of Caucasian appearance”, stole the other's car.

The Victorian branch of the National Tertiary Education Union released this statement on June 1. It condemned La Trobe University's decision to suspend Roz Ward for a post on her personal Facebook page that said the Australian flag is racist. Ward has been a key activist in the Safe Schools anti-bullying campaign for school students. Murdoch's The Australian has run a witch hunt against her with the aim of destroying Safe Schools, which teaches respect and understanding for LGBTIQ students. * * *
A Facebook page that rated the appearance of students at Melbourne University has been taken down, four days after the launch of a petition calling for its removal. The 'Hotties of Melbourne Uni' page had been active on Facebook for years. It featured photos of Melbourne University students posted without their consent. Law student Laura Blandthorn launched a change.org petition claiming that: "The Hotties of Melbourne University" Facebook page perpetuates rape culture, sexism and disrespect." The petition received more than 23,000 signatures.
Subscribe to Facebook