When Facebook blocked hundreds of Australian emergency services and government pages on its platform during its negotiation with the federal government in 2021, whistleblowers alleged that it was not an accident but rather a deliberate negotiating tactic.
On Friday, May 6, Meta denied the claims.
Facebook's Negotiating Tactic
Whistleblower Aid, a legal organization based in the United States, said on May 6 that it had filed a disclosure with the US Department of Justice and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
The disclosure was filed on behalf of former Facebook employees alleging that the company had over-blocked pages deliberately to negotiate a better outcome in the negotiations over legislation to force the company to pay Australian media companies for news content.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Whistleblower Aid also represented known Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.
In February 2021, Facebook blocked all of the news on its social media platform in Australia.
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Facebook blocked information, health, government, and emergency services pages on the site, including the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, the Australian Medical Association, the Council on Homeless Persons, the Sydney Local Health District, the Tasmanian Government, the Suicide Prevention Australia, SA Health, 1800 Respect, and Fire and Rescue New South Wales.
Facebook at the time was claiming the legislation would make an unworkable precedent but said the blocking of government pages was inadvertent, according to The Verge.
The action forced the Australian federal government back to the negotiating table and reached a compromise in the legislation stating that both Google and Facebook would not be designated as platforms covered by the code if the companies could demonstrate that they had successfully negotiated payment deals with Australian media companies.
A spokesperson for Meta denied the blocking of Australian government pages was deliberate. The spokesperson said that the documents in question show that they intended to exempt Australian government pages from restrictions to minimize the impact of the misguided and harmful legislation.
The spokesperson added that they could not do it because of a technical error but assured the public that they had already worked on it and corrected it.
The Australian government pages were restored on February 22, 2021, with the remainder coming back online after the legislation passed, according to CNET.
Since the legislation passed, Google and Facebook have not been designated under the code after dozens of deals were negotiated with local media companies, including The Guardian Australia.
Facebook's Special Response Team
According to the whistleblowers, Facebook had a special ACCC response team that was formed to deflect other Facebook employees' attempts to fix the over-blocking during the negotiations.
The whistleblowers also allege that Facebook did not follow the standard process to prevent the over-blocking before the action, like using lists of sensitive accounts not to block. The company did no appeals process.
The leaked emails published in The Wall Street Journal show that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, COO Sheryl Sandberg, and head of news partnership Campbell Brown congratulated the team responsible for the takedown.
According to the report, Brown stated it landed where they wanted, while Zuckerberg said that the best possible outcome had been achieved, and Sandberg said that the strategy set a new high standard.
In May 2021, Facebook removed fake accounts on the platform as per the order of the Australian government.
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Written by Sophie Webster
