ENSURING your view of the surrounding world is accurate seems to be a practice losing value in the digital age.
At least, this is the message that one of the biggest companies on the planet is giving.
Earlier this month Meta – parent company of the massive social networks Facebook and Instagram – announced it would not renew contracts, which are set to expire this year, that saw it pay Australian news publishers for content.
At the risk of sounding a little ‘woe is us’, the obvious major impacts of this decision will be felt economically by the country’s media outlets.
It will be felt at a time when conditions for most Australian businesses could be classed as unfavourable.
In the Riverland, our agricultural sector is feeling the strain of wine industry challenges, pushing many farmers to the economic edge and leaving some business operators wondering if they will be able to continue paying staff.
Meanwhile, Meta generated $39b in profits for 2023.
However, perhaps a more important concern for the long term is the refusal to prioritise accurate news over the rumours, speculation, misinterpretation or just flat-out malice that is so pervasive on online platforms.
Meta’s accompanying announcement that a dedicated ‘news’ section would be removed from Facebook illustrates that while researched and factual – with journalists that can be held to account – news perhaps isn’t getting the same level of clicks as today’s most recognised Youtuber.
If not completely false, another large percentage of social media content is also – sometimes not entirely disclosed – targeted advertising. The kind of material that makes you feel the emotions needed to buy something.
Think of the path of development this exposure to such controlled media could send the next generations of youth down, if real news is continually pushed back for what makes revenue.
Has the response to Meta’s decision been strong enough? Countless Australian media outlets have examined the issue and its potential impacts, but what can an Advertiser or Herald Sun do to stand up to global tech giants?
Here, arguably, the Federal Government’s response needs to be stronger than critical words.
Delivering quality journalism to communities has become a bit of an uphill battle since the mass invasion of social media on our lives, and this decision from Meta will only increase that incline.
Although we have more information, easier to access, than ever before in human history, that never makes it a definite that information will be correct, and does not stop us from taking it for granted.
