Facebook makes a power move in Australia – and may regret it

Facebook’s dramatic, if ham-handed, attempt to force the issue caused an outrage. The company provided no warning of its decision to block Australian news and applied the ban so clumsily that it blocked many innocent bystanders. — Reuters

For years, Facebook has been in a defensive crouch amid a slew of privacy scandals, antitrust lawsuits and charges that it was letting hate speech and extremism destroy democracy. Early Thursday, though, it abruptly pivoted to take the offensive in Australia, where it lowered the boom on publishers and the government with a sudden decision to block news on its platform across the entire country.

That power play – a response to an Australian law that would compel Facebook to pay publishers for using their news stories – might easily backfire, given how concerned many governments have grown about the company’s unchecked influence over society, democracy and political discourse. But it’s still a startling reminder of just how much power CEO Mark Zuckerberg can wield at the touch of a figurative button.