Read on Twitter
Seeing lots of jokes about the FB ban. There are big picture issues that affect everyone (even if you don't use/care about FB). Media laws, access to knowledge, spread of misinformation, science communication, value of FB for orgs/small businesses as free website & engagement.../
Local media outlets have been shut down nationally. So many people use FB & don't use other social media. A lot of people are not internet literate and they rely on FB to connect to essential info. "Buy a paper or find your news via a search engine LOL" is missing the point
Is it a problem that some people rely on one aggregator? Maybe, but most people used to rely on one newspaper, or one radio station. Was there this much interest when shortwave radio got gutted? It used to be the only current media available in some remote regions
I'm not standing up for either party in this messy situation. Just pointing out that there are bigger picture issues to consider here, not just 'boycott FB' or 'blame the gov'
We have consistently abandoned newspapers, phone books & local news media but also now expect everyone to be *online only* for access to information. For people who don't really want to be online & aren't internet savvy, FB became their easiest option. A lot to think about here.
The 'pay for links' issue is a whole other story. Again 'value' is only being considered in financial terms, but values run so much deeper than how much you pay for something, or whether you should pay for something, eg open access debate & misusing the ecosystem services concept
