Social media giant shows off power but could see backlash

Facebook issued statements on Thursday morning saying it did not intend to catch community organisations and government departments in its ban, and was starting to restore some pages.

QUT digital media expert Axel Bruns said the move by Facebook was a negotiating tactic in its ongoing pushback to the federal government’s new laws which would force social media giants to pay for news content.

But Professor Bruns said the social media giant might have overplayed its hand.

“It’s deeply problematic that government information about the pandemic might be impeded by this ban,” he said.

“It seems as if they’ve simply blocked all sites which meet certain criteria, but that criteria isn’t particularly sophisticated.

“These sites may…