Australia vs Facebook Vs Google
Australia has decided to take on Google and Facebook. The issue they are arguing over is a very relevant one. Australia is complaining that their news services are not being paid for the content created then streamed by Facebook and Google.
They have taken up the side of smaller media companies that post very good stories that go viral. A lot of times the smaller media companies are not compensated for the content they create. When a post goes viral it can end up anywhere on the world wide web.
Social Media Giants like Facebook use these stories to drive traffic on the net where they want it to go. Then they can monetize said traffic in the form of selling ad space to other companies like Nike, Pizza Hut, and Coca Cola. Of course they want to advertise on the sites with the most traffic.
Search Engine Giants like Google do the same. They have even been at odds with Congress about Anti Trust issues. This means that they drive traffic to sites they can get kick backs from, allegedly.
Of course America, where these companies were founded, is all about Capitalism. This means the sky is the limit for the monetization process they have in place. Congress only steps in when the user or consumer is hurt.
The consumer is hurt when the are corralled like cattle into viewing only stories or products Google or Facebook sees fit in showing you. One thing is for certain is that if they cannot come to an agreement Australia will pull the plug on their access. That means that Facebook will be blocked out (Like in China).
Mark Zuckerberg went to China years ago trying to gain access. They turned him away empty handed. It is strange though that they came up with a similar social media platform afterwards called Ren Ren. Google has been warned they will be blocked out also if they don't come to some sort of understanding about compensating the content creators also.
I have to admit The Australians do have a point. Social Media Giants like Facebook rake in Billion$ each year from advertising space alone. I'm sure Google is getting a nice slice of that pie also.
There was almost legislation put forth to guarantee that this didn't happen to any news source in Australia. Instead of duking it out toe to toe, both Facebook and Google appear to have given in. They began to make small deals with the smaller news sources on the usage of their content created.
Both of the social media giants make tons of money and can afford such an action. It appeared they gave in before Australia made it a mandatory law and put a price tag on what was going on. They might be angry for now but in the long run they wont even miss the money spent.
On a global perspective, the whole entire world of journalism may demand similar deals. When a reporter gets an exclusive scoop on the news they should be compensated instead of having their content used to make money for giant tech firms like Google or Facebook. It is a form of modern day slavery and should be abolished.
