Important south-west institutions had their Facebook pages banned on Thursday after the tech giant followed through on its threat to ban Australians from seeing or posting news content.
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South West TAFE and Timboon and District Healthcare Service had restricted access to Facebook on Thursday morning, as well as Member for Western Victoria Bev McArthur and Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell.
It comes after Facebook released a statement saying the proposed media bargaining code fundamentally misunderstood the relationship between its platform and publishers who used it to share news content.
"It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia," the company's statement said.
"With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter."
Non-media pages that were also out of order on Thursday included the Bureau of Meteorology, organisation for victims of domestic violence 1800RESPECT, Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and major retailer Harvey Norman.
Media pages banned included The Standard, ABC South West Vic and 3YB FM.
The pages could no longer post and Facebook users couldn't see any of their content.
South West TAFE manager of brand and strategic marketing Narelle Allen said she was surprised to wake up on Thursday to find their page had been restricted.
"On one hand Facebook was well prepared but they obviously didn't plan to shut down so many sites that weren't relevant to the cause," she said.
"It looks like they did this broad definition of blocking and while it shows the power they've got to do this, it was really surprising that the bots they've used didn't work and how embarrassing that probably is for them."
Ms Allen said South West TAFE's response was to "simply wait it out".
"We know it was a broad definition and we know that slowly but surely the right pages will come back on line," she said.
"All of our ads are still being served up on the platform so it's mainly our social posts (that are restricted). I'm sure they will be madly working to fix it.
"We aren't worried because it's too important for Facebook to have this go for too long. So many government organisation have been affected and I think this is something the government will really dial up on."
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Nerita Waight said applying a blanket ban without considering marginalised groups reinforced the systemic discrimination that marginalised communities were fighting against.
"Facebook's actions today were racist. They must immediately remove all bans and put more thought into their future political actions," she said.
Member for Western Victoria Bev McArthur said it was "unfortunate" that the incorrect pages were caught up in the ban, particularly Timboon and District Healthcare Service.
"They are just trying to provide health information in the middle of a pandemic," she said.
Ms McArthur said the changes were "disastrous".
"It's a blow to the the circulation of information and free speech in a western democracy. We ought to be able to use a website and post whatever we want," she said.
"We like to get news that is credible, that comes from reliable sources and that is what I promote on a regular basis. It is most unfortunate that we won't be able to repost The Standard's wonderful stories, as well as those from other credible media outlets."
Ms Britnell said Facebook had become "an important tool to help me communicate information to my electorate".
"Particularly during a pandemic when restrictions are continually changing," she said.
"Many people have commented that the information I have shared during the lockdowns etc. has helped them understand the rapidly changing environment.
"The decision to cut off my page, and those of some of my colleagues, is clearly an error on Facebook's behalf and I am working to get the issue rectified as soon as possible."
Ms Britnell said that in the meantime, her Liebig Street office was open to walk-in visitors, or she could be contacted on the phone or via email.
The Facebook page for Member for Polwarth Richard Riordan and Member for Wannon Dan Tehan don't appear to have had access restricted.
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Jessica Howard
jessica.howard@warrnamboolstandard.com.au
jessica.howard@warrnamboolstandard.com.au
