In light of today’s incredibly ridiculous and selfish announcement by Facebook, the Leeming Spartan Cricket Club too has felt the wrath of the Zuckerberg and we have been banned (temporarily, we hope) from posting on Facebook.
The restrictions affect all news outlets, and whilst it is honestly impressive that our not-for-profit cricket club is able to raise the ire of the tech-giant, this decision is incredibly disappointing and will prove to be of a considerable hindrance to us in the coming days.
Australians are being blocked from accessing news in their Facebook feeds, in a dramatic escalation of the social media giant’s stand-off with the federal government.
Everyone in Australia who uses Facebook would have woken up this morning and found they were blocked from viewing or sharing news content from publishers’ pages, including news organisations like the ABC, Channel 7, The West Australian (no big loss there) and incredibly, the Leeming Spartan Cricket Club!
The social media giant said it made the move in response to the government’s proposed media bargaining laws, which would force major tech giants to pay Australian news outlets for their content.
We urge Facebook and the Federal Liberal Government to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.
What Facebook has done is incredibly irresponsible and could have damaging consequences not just for the Leeming Spartan Cricket Club but country as a whole.
Restricting breaking news is abhorrent and should a major incident take place, it may even result in loss of life. The recent bush fires showed the importance of keeping up to date with information given how fast the situation can change. A solution is needed immediately.
For us here at the Spartans, our website is still the best way to get information from the Club. We will continue to update it regularly so as to keep you informed – particularly given we have a whole heap of events and announcements coming up including a massive Player’s Tea tonight.
It is quite an interesting feeling given that we now share something in common with former US President Donald Trump, but given the last twelve months anything is possible so it would seem.
We hope this will all be resolved soon.
Pictured Above is how the Leeming Spartan Cricket Club Facebook page looks to everyone today following the block by the site. All our recent posts and photos are now hidden effective immediately.