Australia concerned over Meta halt to U.S. fact-checking

russia, china, trump and all other like them will be happy Meta stopping the fact-checking.

Ah here we go, The LABOR GOVERNMENT suddenly cares about "misinformation" when they peddled fear-mongering narratives about Covid and pushed vaccine mandates without acknowledging legitimate concerns or alternative viewpoints. They silenced debate, demonized dissenters, and now they want to lecture us on 'truth'? No Jim, Dan, Mark, Annastacia, et.al - the REAL misinformation came from your own mouths when you claimed lockdowns were "temporary," vaccines were "safe'N'effective" and would "end the pandemic," and anyone questioning them was a conspiracy theorist.

Laughable.

Aus democracy doesn't need protection from the people - it needs protection from power-hungry bureaucrats.

We should see it as an opportunity to improve public education in spotting and recognising misinformation, propaganda, etc. Finland's already teaching this in schools, apparently, and removing fact checking on social media (which, let's face it, was almost drowning in lies and general garbage content even before Meta made this announcement) could actually be a great opportunity to educate people.

It would also be useful for the older generation who are less tech-literate and might be more likely to fall for a con trick. While I think it's natural to become more cynical and less trusting as you get older (definitely true of myself), that can be negated by the use of unfamiliar technology and so on.

Who will factcheck the factcheckers?

This is the question certain quarters don't wish to answer - especially not the Big Brother government of the day down in Canberra which thinks it is an overlord.

The FACT of the matter is FB is implementing the sensible and evolving model based upon the "community notes" system of X, which has allowed balanced moderation that is based on multiparty agreement between users/posters of different political spectrums - not majority rule.

While not perfect, it is worlds away from the outright censorship models that have dominated until now.

*While not perfect, it is worlds away from the outright censorship models that have dominated until now.*

An interesting viewpoint from someone who thinks China is the greatest thing to happen in the history of mankind.

I apologize in advance for the ignorance but do people really need fact checkers as their babysitters. Perhaps those who don't know their proper pronouns need them.

Aus democracy doesn't need protection from the people - it needs protection from power-hungry bureaucrats.

Well done Jay. Agree. The title should've read, 'Australian Labor Party concerned over Meta halt to U.S. fact-checking.'

These mugs that are going into bat for what nearly always becomes partisan and selective censorship don't speak for us Aussies in the slightest. We are adults and can sort the wheat from the chaff ourselves thank you very much.

Woke is dying, and the Labor Party is crying because they have very little to offer the nation at this point. Zuckerberg jumping off the sinking ship is very telling, even hiring guys like Dana White to be part of his new inner circle which speaks volumes. Hats off to him I guess for having the balls to correct course and admit fault. That's all people need to be able to do.

The cancel culture folk, I'd be doing some similar self-reflection too.

Ricky

Well out old top. This rainbow gang mentality with is actually a negative on society is going down the tubes. We must treat everyone and their views equally not make any class of people untouchable and pandered to.

False flag. Bad ideas never last long. Equality wins over equity. Equality of opportunity rather than the other nightmare experiment of equality of outcome. The latter never stood a chance, because it goes against the grain of human nature.

'Fact-checkers', even the term was Orwellian wordplay. Time to turn the page. One class of people is going to have to get off the idea that the rest of us are too stupid to understand the complexities of life ourselves. It patronizing, arrogant and guarantees pushback.

And go easy on the bleeding Russian misinformation garbage too, please. It gets a bit dull after a while.

Australia concerned over Meta halt to U.S. fact-checking

Silly headline. The current mob of halfwits occupying the government benches in Australia might be concerned. But anyone with an ounce of commonsense isn't.

Somewhere out there online there's a fantastic skit featuring Lisa Kudrow, called "conservative voices are being silenced". Check it out, it's a riot.

And if you don't like it, hey, try and get it censored!

Canberra - regardless of whether the red team or the blue team is 'in power' - needs someone in the US to plug their umbilical cord into. They don't even know how to think independently, let alone act sovereignly. They require foreign "fact-checkers" to even impose their own propaganda regime. The servile Canberra government has never got over being a colonial supplicant that is leashed to a bigger power, never having sought to cast it off and grow up: on the contrary they have embraced the concept with a bizarre, juvenile, obsequious obsession bordering on the banal. Thus, the need for "fact-checkers"; how pathetic.

both camps sitting in their little like minded communities yelling at each other pretty much sums up most social media these days anyways.

teach kids critical thinking and we can let the plebs sling mud at each other all day long.

Interesting point not addressed in this article is that the Fact Checkers organizations hold no sway over retention or deletion of content.

Some people have the idea that they are some kind of net police force pushing and pulling their demands - lol.

The sites themselves - Meta et al - control content.

From Yahoo news concerning USA-

“PolitiFact, nor any of the nine other U.S.-based fact-checking partners, censor or remove content,” he said. “It’s on their own website that Facebook states very plainly that the fact-checking program is not a means to remove or censor content.”...............“

This is ridiculous,” Stiller, of Check Your Fact, said. “We provided unbiased, fair and balanced approaches to all of our stories. Didn't matter if it was left or right, our goal was to talk about the facts and give people a lens to look through.”

While Check Your Fact is funded by the Daily Caller, a right-wing news outlet co-founded by Tucker Carlson, Stiller insisted to Yahoo News that the fact-checkers are “editorially independent.”

“If we were biased, we wouldn't call ourselves ‘fact-checkers,’” he said.

So in the case of the States - and I presume other countries incl Australia - 10 fact checking groups from an array of backgrounds - right to left - mostly come up with the same conclusions.

So what are the social media moguls afraid of?

Perhaps being squeezed out of the Billionaires Cuddly Club, that would see them missing out on the Neo-Globalist Action Pie.

Zuckerburg following the Almighty Musk to get pats from the Leader.

Jay above...Health matters are STATE matters, not FEDERAL matters.

Read the Constitution mate.

Cant equate Covid with digital misinformation also.

Go after the scientists, health experts, WHO etc and put forward your claims that dispute the seriousness of Covid.

Then speak to health officials in places like Indonesia and India where death tolls were ferocious .

Not everything has a left/right polarity.

Ah here we go, The LABOR GOVERNMENT suddenly cares about "misinformation" when they peddled fear-mongering narratives about Covid and pushed vaccine mandates without acknowledging legitimate concerns or alternative viewpoints. They silenced debate, demonized dissenters, and now they want to lecture us on 'truth'? No Jim, Dan, Mark, Annastacia, et.al - the REAL misinformation came from your own mouths when you claimed lockdowns were "temporary," vaccines were "safe'N'effective" and would "end the pandemic," and anyone questioning them was a conspiracy theorist.

Excellent post.

Just work on the bans of Meta and Xitter, Australia. Show us how responsible government can be done.

Jay above...Health matters are STATE matters, not FEDERAL matters.

That's right Mickey. Now, let me educate you, mate: during the pandemic, every single state and territory government in Australia - bar one - was under LABOR GOVERNMENT control, so your comment only highlights that the LABOR GOVERNMENT botched it on every level. Yep, the states ran the show alright - ran it straight into the ground.

Dishonorable mentions to Dictator Dan and Mark "Gollum" McClown... and the trail of lockdowns, mandates, and disgraceful power trips they left behind.

We should all be concerned, enough to dump Facebook like Tiktok permanently.

We should all be concerned, enough to dump Facebook like Tiktok permanently.

I agree but that is a personal choice to make not dictated to everyone.

And where were Australia and all the other western countries when the western mainstream media was (and continues to) spew out misinformation and outright lies and propaganda about the Global Majority countries, Gaza and Ukraine? Has any western government called out the crisis actors and stage-plays from CNN, including the latest one which saw a 'captive' Syrian being freed - a man jailed in a windowless jail for months and yet was well manicured, hairstyled and had no problems looking at the sun?

Pukey2Today 06:19 pm JST

And where were Australia and all the other western countries when the western mainstream media was (and continues to) spew out misinformation and outright lies and propaganda about the Global Majority countries, Gaza and Ukraine? Has any western government called out the crisis actors and stage-plays from CNN, including the latest one which saw a 'captive' Syrian being freed - a man jailed in a windowless jail for months and yet was well manicured, hairstyled and had no problems looking at the sun?

A hilarious video is not the same as systemic disinformation campaigns of the like conducted by China/russia.

Ah, Meta is now announcing they will just push political excrement on you whether you want it or not. Show us the path out, Australia!

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyjyd0297go