Many of Australia’s 2.5 million small businesses found themselves caught in the crossfire when news media and Meta went to war over content deals three years ago.
The debacle exposed just how randomly Facebook had tagged its members and the pages that millions of companies relied upon to interact with their customers.
The result was that it wasn’t just media sites that went dark under the news ban.
So did small brewers, delivery drivers, florists, police stations, doctor surgeries, government agencies, charities, and many many more.
Eventually, Meta turned them back on as it buried the hatchet with the Australian government.
Only now Meta is threatening to pull out again.
That means the small businesses, which represent 97 per cent of all businesses in Australia, face another a new period of potential exile by the social platform.
I joined Small Business Australia’s Bill Lang on Disrupt Radio to discuss the implications, and how small businesses might mitigate the risks.
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