Facebook blocks Barnesy: Aussie icon Jimmy Barnes says the social media giant’s ‘gone a bit nuts’ and removed videos of him performing for fans without warning or explanation
Facebook courted controversy this week by banning Australian news from its platform.
But bizarrely, rocker Jimmy Barnes was caught in the crossfire in the war between the social media giant and the Australian Federal government.
The rock icon, 64, revealed that Facebook has ‘blocked all my videos’ in an Instagram post on Thursday.
Taken down: Jimmy Barnes was caught in the crossfire in the war between social media giant Facebook’s controversial news ban and the Australian Federal government. Jimmy pictured with wife Jane Mahoney
The Cold Chisel frontman wrote, ‘Facebook’s gone a bit nuts in Australia and they’ve blocked all my videos. Hopefully it all gets sorted out soon’.
Indeed, while many of Jimmy’s posts were still up on his official Facebook page, all of the Khe Sanh hitmaker’s videos -most of which featured himself performing songs for his fans- had apparently been taken down.
Instead, they were replaced by administrative notices telling followers ‘This content isn’t available right now.’
One possible reason given for their absence was that content has ‘been deleted’.
The Scottish-born singer has become just the latest casualty in the war between news organisations, the Australian government and the tech behemoth.
Whoops: The musical icon, 64, revealed Facebook has ‘blocked all my videos’ in a Thursday Instagram post
Screaming mad: Indeed, while many of Jimmy’s posts were still up on his official Facebook page, all of the Khe Sanh hitmaker’s videos -most of which featured himself performing songs for his fans- had apparently been taken down. He’s seen here in 2015
As well as news outlets having their content banned, health organisations and domestic violence charities are among those who content has been scrubbed from Facebook.
The tech giant made the bold move over the the News Media Bargaining Code, which would force big tech companies to compensate news outlets for stories they host on their platforms.
The law was being debated by parliament this week, with ministers voting to approve it on Wednesday night.
The bill now returns to the Senate for final approval, where it is expected to pass quickly.
When it passes, it will become the first such law requiring tech giants to compensate publishers for hosting their content.
Overreach: Jimmy’s videos were replaced by administrative notices telling followers ‘This content isn’t available right now.’
It’s war: The Scottish-born singer has become just the latest casualty in the war between news organisations, the Australian government and the tech behemoth
However, Thursday’s retaliatory news ban was spectacularly botched with organisations as diverse as health departments, domestic violence charities, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the country’s main source of weather information, the Bureau of Meteorology, banned from posting.
Facebook said that was a mistake – but blamed the broad definition of news in the forthcoming laws.
‘The actions we’re taking are focused on restricting publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content,’ a spokeswoman said.
‘As the law does not provide clear guidance on the definition of news content, we have taken a broad definition in order to respect the law as drafted. However, we will reverse any pages that are inadvertently impacted.’
Minister Fletcher has insisted the government will not back down and said the publisher could either abide by Australia’s laws or leave the country.
The law passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday night and looks set to pass the Senate within days.
Working class man: Jimmy seen here at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2018