@atomicpoet Microsoft recently infused cash into DuckDuckGo and now MSN rehosted articles are at the top of nearly every search. Also affects other search engines. This stuff drives me crazy and it’s infuriating the content stealing problem hasn’t been solved after decades.

@atomicpoet alternative take - shutting off the algorithm feed from #meta which simply amplifies the echo chamber makes it so that Canadians must seek out the news - is good for all!

@atomicpoet Didnʼt Facebook do this in Australia, then bowed to pressure? Those days without Australian news were fine. We just went to the sites without using Facebook-as-Digg. Wish it stayed news-free, as it showed that no one actually needed Facebook.

@atomicpoet

I'm on the fence when it comes to paying news outlets over links.

On hand, I understand the need to find new revenue for struggling newsrooms, but on the other hand this will give blank cheques to companies like Postmedia to spread more misinformation. :blobcatglance:

@atomicpoet Laws like this can have significant unintended consequences and tend to hurt the smaller players more than the big ones. Are there any lawyers/policy makers out there who know whether this could hamper link sharing across fediverse instances? For example, will Canadian instance owners have to pay publishers for links that point to publisher content? Is there a cutoff in terms of size of audience? If not, there probably should be. @mmasnick what do you think?

@atomicpoet
We had this in Australia, but instead of the money going to "journalists," it went to right-wing media organisations.

@atomicpoet @kidehen To paraphrase Princess Leia, “The more they tighten their grip, the more accounts will slip through their fingers.”

@atomicpoet I hope they follow through too!

But I am always and completely against a link tax, Facebook are in the right for once. They should not have to pay to link to a site or embed a descriptor card in that link and if anyone tries to make them pay for that they ought to just stop the links.

@atomicpoet Here's an idea. Maybe Canadians should tell Zuck to fuck off. Don't let that human skidmark hold your government hostage for his garbage platform.

@atomicpoet
Facebook and Google do not repurpose the news content; they link to it. As Spanish publishers discovered when they had their legislative hissy fit, it hurt them and the public but not the platforms when Google News left. BTW, the baksheesh in the Canadian bill will go to, among others, an American hedge fund.

@atomicpoet Threatening us with a good time, you mean? I see no downside to them pulling out and letting people get news from reality.

@atomicpoet @the_Effekt they tried doing that in Australia then backed down, after a very embarrassing period where they had blocked all sorts of useful websites including emergency-related ones.

@atomicpoet The world would be better off if everyone stopped getting their news from Facebook.

@atomicpoet Don't they get paid the same for a click through from Facebook as from anywhere else? I don't understand what Facebook is expected to pay for exactly.

Are people meant to pass links around in hardcopy on business cards or something? I don't see the significance of the intermediary service in this transaction.

@atomicpoet Absolute fantasy. Twitter is still losing money and benefits not a lick financially from journalism. Facebook couldn’t care less. News is of less than no value to them. (Google very different story, btw.)

@atomicpoet 🇨🇦 Stand strong! Don't back down. Who needs Facebook & Instagram when you could be on Mastodon?

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