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Summary
- Facebook Inc had blocked several Australian media sites from sharing and viewing news stories.
- Experts believe that the move is imprudent ahead of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout beginning on Monday.
- On receiving lots of comments, Facebook reinstated the pages of some health organisations and emergency services.
Facebook Inc (NYSE:FB) had today blocked several Australian media sites from sharing news stories. Additionally, ACT Health and ACT Government sites were also barred from view this morning.
Facebook had made this dramatic move to ban publishers and users in Australia from sharing or seeing any news articles on its platform as a response to the proposed media bargaining laws of Morrison government. The move, just ahead of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout starting Monday, was seen as irresponsible.
Source: © Dudau| Megapixl.com
With pressure mounting from different corners, the Company restored pages of emergency services and regional health authorities.
Many Australian health experts expressed concerns regarding the move. Even though several pages were restored, barring news publications at such a crucial time was considered reckless and dangerous behaviour by the social networking site.
On the ban of health, emergency pages, Health Minister Greg Hunt said-
In a statement, Facebook highlighted that the ban should not have impacted government pages, and it would reinstate the organisations that were inadvertently affected.
According to several media news, earlier in the day, official government health pages for the ACT, Queensland, South Australia, as well as for Tasmania were blocked, while the federal Department of Health page remained active.
Concerns Raised over public health impacts of Facebook blocks
Experts raise their concerns over the impact of the Facebook ban on the health and emergency pages three days before the launch of COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr Omar Khorshid, Australian Medical Association president, stated that the ban of health pages and news organisations was a huge matter of concern just a few days out from the start of a national vaccination program. Dr Khorshid added that this is a reckless and dangerous action from one of the world’s biggest organisations.
Moreover, some media reports stated that a few hospitals were also impacted due to the block, including St Vincent’s Hospital and Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, while Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital remained unaffected.
Facebook fixes health pages after attracting criticism from the government
After receiving many comments, Facebook has commenced reinstating the pages of some health organisation, emergency services as well as the Bureau of Meteorology.
The pages providing crucial health information, emergency as well as weather information and alerts, were restored about midday on 18 February 2021.
However, some media reports say that the ACT government and the Tasmanian pages are still down.
Facebook stated that it was not the organisation’s intention to ban sharing news content from affecting the government pages.
