Big Technology
Why Facebook’s Temporary News Ban in Australia Didn’t Go Far Enough
News must liberate itself from Facebook. And Facebook must liberate itself from news.
An amazing thing happened last week when Facebook banned links to news articles in Australia. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s long-overlooked news app became the country’s hottest.
The ABC app jumped from around 1,000 daily downloads to more than 15,000 in a day last week, according to mobile intelligence firm Apptopia. And by the time anyone looked up, it occupied the top spot on the country’s iOS and Google Play app stores.
Facebook enacted its ban to protest an Australian law that would make the company pay news publishers. But instead of crushing ABC, the ban set it free.
“What we saw,” David Swan, technology editor at The Australian, told me, “was human nature coming through and people needing news.”
Across Australia, news publishers lost traffic due to Facebook’s ban — which is set to expire in the coming days — but they began deepening their relationships with their audiences. The ABC news app took off. 7Plus and 9Now, two other news apps in the country, experienced smaller spikes as such action loomed. And Swan’s own…
